Aussie reveals what winning the lottery is really like

An Adelaide man has revealed how winning the lottery impacted his family, including the fear he experienced immediately after.

A man has revealed how winning the lottery impacted his family, saying before that his parents were struggling to make ends meet.

Jayden Clark revealed how his family’s lives changed after his dad won the lottery. Mr Clark and his family lived in Adelaide. He said they were “living pay cheque to pay cheque” and his parents were “fighting to keep” their home.

But, after five years of playing the numbers on the lottery, he won. He didn’t reveal how much they won. It changed the family’s life.

“It was obviously the most interesting thing to ever happen to us. But growing up, being so young, I had no understanding of lottery money or what that meant and how unique it was,” he recalled.

Jayden's parents won the lottery. Picture: TikTok/@jaydenclark21

He said it made more sense to him “years later”. Mr Clark remembered his mum picked him and his younger sister up from school. She kept saying she had a “big surprise” for them. He thought he was getting a new sibling. When he saw a giant cheque, he didn’t think much of it.

Mr Clark remembered his parents being “paranoid”. He said at the time the only public lottery stories were from America where people won “hundreds of millions” and ended up kidnapped.

“My parents were so worried that would happen to us. I remember we took two weeks off school to plan how to do life because they didn’t have anyone that came from money,” he said.

He said his parents were no longer multi millionaires but they were comfortable thanks to the thing that happened to them a decade ago.

He revealed how it impacted his family. Picture: TikTok/@jaydenclark21

But, it had an impact on the entire family — in particular for himself and his two siblings. He said even though they still grow up “very structured” — like had to have a reason to buy something or work towards it — the experience of winning the lottery made them feel like there was “no option” to be a normal person.

He said for the longest time he was torn between wanting to share the story and being embarrassed by it. He said when people knew about it, they made him feel like he didn’t deserve it.

“It wasn’t until I came to LA did I feel like I belonged and like I was normal because there are so many crazy people here with crazy lives and stories,” he said.

Mr Clark said he knew his parents felt guilt over the win. He said often his mum did everything she could to help those around them.