Lee Ryan is still playing the lottery and he’s hoping to hit it big. Hardly anyone knows better than the 63-year-old that a lot of money does not guarantee a happy life. The Brit won the lottery in 1995, blew away his millions and is now leading a normal life again after a crash.
In 1995 Ryan won £6.5million, the equivalent of £7million today. There are significantly higher jackpots, but for the man in his mid-30s, this win was the end of it all. Ryan had been in prison about ten years earlier and had dreamed of becoming a millionaire ever since. When the money landed in the account, he tried to build a life of luxury for himself, his girlfriend Karen and their three young children.
Ryan spent large parts of the winnings on expensive cars and a villa, he even afforded a small private plane and a helicopter. The cars got license plates “Lee 1”, “Lee 2” and so on. Although the winner claims that he also gave a lot of money to the homeless and other people “who needed it” at the time – all in all he used his sudden wealth with little thought.
“Once I had the money, I thought this was what I wanted, what I had been praying for all along,” Ryan tells The Mirror 28 years later. “People always think: If I win tomorrow, my worries will be over. That’s not true, that’s just the beginning of the worries.” Lee Ryan is one who should know, after all he suffered a bitter crash after winning the lottery.
Just six months after the big win, Ryan was behind bars again for dealing in stolen cars. He served nine months of the year and a half in prison, becoming the first British lottery winner ever to go to jail. Today he sees his lottery win as a “curse”: “It’s actually all just an illusion. All these possessions imprison you. People think that you’re doing well because of what you have. But I know people with a lot Money who are badly off.”
Ryan himself separated from his wife in 2003 and moved to Kyrgyzstan with his new partner. There he is said to have lost another two million pounds with bad investments, his housekeeper stole £40,000 from him, criminals allegedly wanted to kidnap one of his children. Seven years later, this relationship was also history, Ryan returned to England as an almost penniless man – and initially ended up on the street. He was homeless for a total of five years.
In the meantime, the supposed lucky guy has recovered and is living a normal life in London. He earns his money as a painter and also volunteers at a homeless shelter that supported him when he was living on the streets. He has left the luxury of days gone by: “I don’t want it all back. It’s almost like being in a prison, where you have to lock the gates and be constantly on guard,” Ryan told the “Mirror”. Now he is “happier than ever”. And if he actually wins the lottery again, he wants to be smarter about the sum and help the homeless: “Then you have the feeling of having done something worthwhile.”
Quelle: “Mirror”
