Callie Rogers won the jackpot in 2003 when she was just 16 years old
According to Britain’s youngest ever lottery winner, there’s a lot of truth behind the phrase ‘money can’t buy you happiness’ – as she’s much more content 20 years later after frittering it all away.
Callie Rogers became the envy of every teenager in the UK back in 2003 when she scooped a whopping £1.875 million with her lucky ticket at the age of 16.
At the time, she was working as a shop assistant in her local Co-op for just £3.60 an hour… so it’s safe to say her win was pretty life-changing.
Callie’s been on quite the rollercoaster ride since bagging the jackpot more than two decades ago, and in hindsight, she reckons living a ‘normal life’ is much better than being a high roller.
In an update shared on social media last month, she announced that she had given birth to her fifth child, according to The Sun.
She shared a string of snaps of her five-week-old tot named Navie-Nicola on Facebook, alongside the caption: “The best five weeks of life loving you our little bean.”
Callie also dubbed the new addition her ‘precious girl’ in another sweet upload.
The publication also reported that the Brit has now found love with a new man, 35-year-old Lee Matthews.
Callie seems much more content with her current circumstances after the turbulent few years which followed her huge win on the lottery.
Callie Rogers revealed she recently welcomed her fifth child into the world (Facebook)
After claiming her grand prize in 2003, Callie spent half a million on homes for herself and her loved ones, as well as an additional £550k on clothes, tattoos and travelling.
But it seemed as though the rest of her windfall might have been burning a hole in her pocket, as Callie then went on another spending spree as she booked herself in for a string of cosmetic surgeries.
The lotto winner, from Workington, Cumbria, also admitted that she splurged £250,000 on a cocaine habit, while she lost thousands by bunging family and friends ‘loans’ which were never repaid.
Callie, now aged 37, previously told how she was ‘a soft touch’ and was often taken advantage of by gold diggers who just wanted to cash in on her good fortune.
“Now I realise what they were like,” she said. “I was exploited because of my age. I had a lot of fake relationships.”
During an appearance on This Morning in 2018, Callie explained that her millionaire status brought a lot of ‘trust issues’ along with it, as she couldn’t work out who was genuine.
Despite being Britain’s youngest ever lottery winner, the mum doesn’t want her kids playing it in the future (Getty Stock Photo)
“Not knowing who liked me for me, and having all the stress of all the money…I just wanted to go back to having a normal life,” Callie said.
Unfortunately though, her notoriety as Britain’s youngest ever lottery winner continued to follow her – even 16 years later when she was working as a carer for £12k a year while renting a £500-a-month pad.
“People still ask me about the lottery win all the time,” Callie told the Mirror in 2019. “You are only 16, with all that responsibility. At that age, you can get the best advice ever.
“But you are not in a position to listen. I was too young. Overnight, I went from carefree child to adult.
“All these years on, it still gets dragged up. Even when I go for job interviews, I am thinking about it. I suffer from such bad anxiety when I am going to meet new people.
“It preys on my mind, what a new partner’s family will think of me, or even new friends. I still get abuse just because of who I am.”
Callie scooped the life-changing sum when she was just 16 (ITV)
Essentially, the former shop assistant reckons that although winning the jackpot right after leaving school sounds like a dream come true to most people, it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.
She continued: “I did not want that much money. I was in foster care and for the first time in a long time, I was really settled and really happy.
“At 16 you do not know what is ahead of you, because by God, I did not expect any of that. I asked the Co-op if I could have my old job back.”
Callie felt so strongly about this that she called on ministers to raise the age limit for the National Lottery to 18 or over, so that other teens didn’t have to go through her ordeal.
The minimum age was brought up in 2021, and the mum now simply hopes that none of her kids will ever try their luck on it.
Camelot, who used to own the National Lottery, previously said they had offered Callie ‘extensive support’ over the years.
A spokesman said: “She didn’t take up the independent financial and legal advice offered by us.
“However, our winner’s team fully supported her and helped her to handle media interest. We will continue to support Callie in any way we can if she wants.”
Featured Image Credit: Facebook/ITV
