A mum who won £11.5 million last year says she still loves shopping at Primark for bargains, despite her new wealth.
Kelly Dighton, from Suffolk, won the jackpot alongside her former partner Arron Freeman after betting just £1.50 on a 'Mega Moolah' online slot game. The pair have since split the winnings, taking home £5.5 million each.
Kelly, who is now a mum-of-three, said she always felt she would become a millionaire, even telling her parents as a child. After turning 16, her dad allowed her to play the lottery, and although her six numbers didn't come up, the exact numbers appeared on the Irish lottery the same night, which she took as a sign her day would come.
Still Loves a Primark Haul
Speaking on the Tea At Four podcast, Kelly said: “Don’t get me wrong, these (shoes) are Gucci. I’ve bought a couple of handbags and stuff like that. When I first won it, I went to Flannels. I was like, ‘Yeah, let’s go.’ Me and my daughter, she is 24 so was like, ‘Come on mum.’
“And then after that, it just wears off. And I can just like buy a £5 skirt and put one of my nice bags and people are always thinking it’s expensive aren’t they because of what I’ve got.”
She added: “We went to Primark in Birmingham and I was like ‘Girls, get what you want.’ And I know it is only Primark but to them that’s lovely, do you know what I mean? And it’s lovely for me. I love a Primark haul.”
Life as a Multi-Millionaire
Kelly's social media tagline is “from council estate to multi-millionaire”. She has moved into a new house where she cooks for up to 12 friends she invites over. One of the best things about winning, she said, was allowing friends to “enjoy the ride” with her.
Despite her wealth, Kelly admitted it still hasn't fully sunk in. “I still feel numb now,” she said. “I still don’t think it’s real until I open my eyes and I check my bank. I check my bank every day and I’m like, ‘Is it a dream?’ I still feel like someone’s going to wake me up.”
Her first major purchase was buying her cousin, who she said was like a daughter to her, a house worth £425,000.
Downsides of Winning
Kelly, now sober after struggling with a drug addiction that resulted in a conviction after crashing into an off-duty police officer while high on drugs four months before her win, said there have been downsides. She claimed one friend lied about having a brain tumour to try to get money from her. She also received death threats and kidnap threats after her win became public.
The mum often gets letters asking for cash. As for the most “ridiculous” request, she said: “Someone messaged me on Facebook saying, ‘Me and my partner have retired, but we really want to live in Spain and open a dog shelter — will you please give us £50,000 to move to Spain and open a dog shelter?’”
During the interview, Kelly, who said she would be single for a long time to come, also said that money did not buy health or love, but it did buy happiness. Speaking about setting up her children for life, she said: “If I can give them what they need, I can live in a comfortable house and I’ve got no money worries, of course I’m going to be happy. I could jet off to Spain, Jamaica. Like, when people say that don’t buy happiness, that does. It don’t buy love, and it don’t buy health, but it definitely buys happiness.”
