Yahoo News Britain's youngest lottery winner 'happy as she is' as a working mum after blowing £2m fortune
The youngest lottery winner in Britain has spoken about her happiness at living a normal life after she squandered her £2m fortune.
Callie Rogers was just 16 years old when she scooped £1.87 million on the National Lottery in 2003, and was earning £3.60 an hour as a Co-op checkout girl.
Now, 15 years later, the mum-of-three has spent every last penny of her jackpot – but insists she is happier living a normal life after her fortune made it hard to trust people.
She told ITV’s This Morning: ‘It just became too much to cope with, not knowing who liked me for me anymore and having all the stress of all the money.
‘I just wanted to go back to having a normal life. I’m 31 now, I still struggle with trust issues.’
Ms Rogers, who fell into a depression and tried to take her own life after her life-changing win, spent £18,000 on boob jobs, £300,000 on clothes and a staggering £500,000 on ‘gifts’ to friends and family.
She also squandered thousands on drugs, partying and cosmetic surgery.
Ms Rogers, from Cumbria, is now calling on the age limit to play the National Lottery to be raised.
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She said: ’I wish I was a bit older at the time of winning it.
‘At 16 you’re just a child, and then suddenly overnight you’ve got to become an adult…
‘There were people who came along after I won the lottery who weren’t in my life before, and aren’t in my life now.’
Ms Rogers added: ‘It was too much money for someone so young. Even if you say your life won’t change, it does – and often not for the better. It nearly broke me, but thankfully, I’m now stronger.
‘I try to forget the ups and downs I’ve been through and just feel like a normal person. The pressure to splash out and live a glam party life has gone – and I prefer it.’
Ms Rogers is now training to be a nurse.
Callie also revealed she had only £2,000 left in the bank at the time – but insisted she had never felt happier as she prepared to train as a nurse.
At the time, she was living in a modest £80,000 three-bedroom house in Workington, Cumbria with her partner, fireman Paul Penny, and son Blake, who has cerebral palsy.
