Bob CollinsJane Doe, the New Hampshire woman who hit the Powerball jackpot for $560 million, knows her life is going to change once her identity is revealed.
People will hound her for money. Her friendships might change forever.
But that’s the breaks in New Hampshire where, like Minnesota, her name is public and the lottery can release it if they want to.
Unlike Minnesota, however, had she signed the back of it as a trust she could remain anonymous.
She didn’t know that, of course, until after she’d already signed her name, the Manchester Union Leader reports.
“She is a longtime resident of New Hampshire and is an engaged community member,” her attorney, Steven Gordon, wrote in court filing, seeking an order to allow her to remain anonymous. “She wishes to continue this work and the freedom to walk into a grocery store or attend public events without being known or targeted as the winner of a half-billion dollars.”
“She intends to contribute a portion of her winnings to a charitable foundation so that they may do good in the world. She wishes to be a silent witness to these good works, far from the glare and misfortune that has often fallen upon other lottery winners,” he wrote.
A hearing is scheduled for later this month. In the meantime, she hasn’t yet presented the ticket to the lottery, which is costing her $50,000 a day in interest.
What’s behind the reticence to come forward? The Powerball Curse.
“My granddaughter is dead because of the money,” Jack Whitaker, who hit the lottery for about $350 million. His daughter died of a drug overdose, which he claims was made possible by the money.
“You know, my wife had said she wished that she had torn the ticket up. Well, I wish that we had torn the ticket up, too,” he told ABC News in 2007.
“Most of us think that winning the lottery is the ultimate fulfillment. But I found that wasn’t the case,” lottery winner Donna Mikkin wrote in a blog post. She won the lottery jackpot in 2007. “When we won the lottery, my inner dialogue was manic. I became more concerned about how I was being judged and perceived, not realizing I was the one doing the judging in the first place.”
Related: 8 Times Winning The Lottery Ruined Someone’s Life (Huffington Post)
