Nine years after cashing her $10,569,000.10 check, Canadian lotto winner Sharon Tirabassi is catching the Barton Street bus to her part-time job. She's working to support her kids in their rented house in northeast Hamilton, Ontario.
Tirabassi, 35 — one of this city's biggest lotto winners — has gone from rolling in dough to living pay check to pay check.
The Lotto Super7 payout didn't come with a financial adviser and before she knew it — big house, fancy cars, designer clothes, lavish parties, exotic trips, handouts to family, loans to friends — the money was gone.
"You don't think it'll go (at the time), right?" she says.
She'd check her account now and again, but there were always so many zeroes that she figured it was fine — until one day there was just three quarters of a million left.
"And that was time for fun to stop and to just go back to life," she says.
She's happier today. Says life has more purpose now than when she was shopping.
She's working part-time as a personal support worker and raising her six kids in a rented downtown house off Barton and Sherman.
Her husband, Vinny, also 35, has another three kids from a previous relationship.
Asked about how life turned out for them, Vinny shrugs, smoking a cigarette in the doorway of their rented home.
"I lived like this my whole life, I never was rich," he says. "We grew up like this, so we're used to it."
Pretty much all that's left now is in trust for her kids when they turn 26 — her children will be OK, and that's what's important to her.
"The moment I got it, I divided it among my family ... all of that other stuff was fun in the beginning, now it's like ... back to life," she says.
Before her win, Tirabassi had been living in an east Hamilton apartment with her three kids, each one from a different father.
She was Sharon Mentore then — not yet married. She had just landed a job as a personal care provider, fresh off welfare, and couldn't afford a car.
But on Easter Weekend in April 2004, she literally hit the jackpot and won $10.5 million from a Lotto Super7 ticket.
For someone who spent her teenage years bouncing around from shelter to shelter, she was unprepared for the millionaire lifestyle. That check might as well have been a money tree in the yard — it felt like cash for life.
Suddenly, life was but a dream.
She took friends on wild, all-expenses paid trips to Cancun, Florida, Las Vegas, California, the Caribbean.
She bought a house on West 5th, and she married Vinny.
In 2006, the newlyweds and blended Tirabassi family moved to a massive $515,000 home on Kitty Murray Lane in Ancaster.
Despite cashing a $10.5 million check just two years earlier, Tirabassi took out a $360,000 mortgage on the house.
The pair, Vinny says, owned four vehicles: a bright yellow Hummer, a Mustang, a Dodge Charger and a $200,000-plus, souped-up Cadillac Escalade — Tirabassi's baby.
Her customized licence plate read "BABIPHAT," after one of her favorite designer clothing lines.
Ancaster neighbours hated that Cadillac. Equipped with interior turntables and sound mixers, it blared hip-hop music in the driveway and shook their quiet suburban street.
Tirabassi didn't like her neighbours.
"They didn't like young people," she says.
Besides the extravagant vehicles, a lot of the cash went to family and friends.
Too much, she admits now.
She gave her parents $1 million.
Another $1.75 million was divided among her four siblings.
She bought several houses in the city, renting them out at affordable rates to families. She said she paid people's rent. Lent money to help out a friend when her husband went to jail. Helped another two friends start up a business in Toronto.
A lot of friends came out of the woodwork when news broke of her win — and a lot of them she never heard from again.
"Money is the root of all evil," she says, shaking her head.
Vinny agrees.
"Friends that she hadn't talked to in a long time came calling."
"Money doesn't buy you happiness. It caused her a lot of headaches," he says.
"She lost a lot of friends, a lot of family."
By 2007, according to an interview at the time, Tirabassi had already blown through half of her winnings, and was living off interest from investments on the other $5 million.
Also that year, Vinny crashed the Mustang.
He pleaded guilty to two counts of driving impaired and causing bodily harm. He was sentenced to 18 months in jail plus two years' probation. And his licence was revoked for five years.
He would serve time again in 2011 after breaching his conditions and driving with a disqualified license.
In 2008, while he was in jail, the Tirabassis lost the Ancaster house.
From there, they moved to Hagersville, then out west to Edmonton once Vinny was out of jail.
They moved around a lot and today, Hamilton's penniless millionaires are back downtown, living in a rented house on a quiet industrial street — not far from where she started.
It's modest, the walls covered in family photos and the odd relic from their flashier days — Michael Jackson memorabilia for her, Maple Leafs memorabilia for him.
They have two cats and a rabbit named Princess.
The Tirabassis are worried about people knowing where they live now. Their win didn't make them a lot of friends, and they're worried about being robbed.
"A lot of people do still think she has lots of money," Vinny said.
Between the two of them, there are nine kids. Three each from previous relationships, and three more together.
The Dodge Charger and the Hummer are nowhere in sight on their new street. She drives a hot pink electric bike these days, when she's not taking the bus.
The Cadillac's in storage; it needs work done that she can't afford right now.
A lot of friends are gone too.
People took advantage of them, didn't pay them back when they loaned them money.
"(They said) 'they've got enough so they're OK, right?'" Vinny said.
Hamilton resident Gayle Zolaturiuk accepted a $30 million check from the OLG last week, and local convenience store owner Myungsu You is waiting to collect his $16.1 million on March 22.
If the Tirabassis can give Zolaturiuk and You one piece of advice as they collect their wins, it's to be wary of whom you share it with.
"Try to keep it to yourself. Keep it to yourself and don't trust anybody but family," Tirabassi says.
But as she heads to work in her scrubs Wednesday, she says she couldn't help giving so much away.
"That's the way I was brought up. Help those who can't help themselves," she says with a shrug.
Rather than mourn the millions, she's concentrating now on raising her kids with those same family values.
"I'm trying to get them to learn that they have to work for money," Tirabassi says.
"Every so often they ask for money and I say I don't have any money till payday. You have to wait 'til payday."
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Thanks to GAMBLIN QUEEN for the tip.
One Word: Sad.
Future winners please seek advise before you claim your winnings. Well on the bright side at least she did get a trust set up for her kids.
Don't annoy your neighbors with hip hop-rap rubbish CRAP either.
I feel worse for the Cadillac.
Silly woman with no brains.
lol right on the tail of the $2 mill uk winner who blew it. hope who ever won the recent powerball reads LP
I guess the old saying that a fool and their money are soon parted is true. Newbie here I've stalked around the board and never posted just wanted to say hi.
Welcome TylerD67
very stupid.
bling bling
the big spender is her issue
a lot of lottery winners i find are just clueless about how to invest money
they should be getting richer ever year
grow 10m into 20m in 10 years, etc
not lose 10m in a few years
the majority of wealthy people spend below their means
yes this means the 2 million bucks or more spenders a year rich people, that these lottery winners try to copy
have like 50M PLUS in investments earning more, they keep getting more wealthy ever year
if u want to act rich, u better have investments to support it, lottery winners as a group, are freaking clueless in this department of thinkin
its just lottery winners are really idiots with money. u dump anyone with large amount of money, with no freaking idea how to invest it
and they start spending like it, but not invest it, its mind blowing how stupid lottery winners are
its so easy to go, if that was "me" i never waste it, in thinking terms
but truth is, must of people saying that, have not a clue how to invest and earn millions
the truth is, even if they win over 100m in cash, if u have wrong thinkin, u blow it all,
am sure in shock how Jack Whittaker was a muti millioner before winning lottery"so u would think he would know how to handle it, WRONG"
then he wins 315m " lump sum of $113 million after taxes.:" and manages to blow that,and leave a trail of ruin in hes money path
people just don't have a freaking clue............................
lottery the greatest experiment of "what's see what happens when we give stupid people millions" its going to end badly, very Very badly.......... but is fun to watch, in sense of u cant help but look at the train wreck going down........... bad beyond belief yes, amazing to watch, hell yes..............
ofc there tons of smart people who play also,and when they win, we won't hear the horror stories, smartest winners are ones we don't know about,and who are more rich then when they first hit jackpot
but they never end up in news......................
so i just got these morons to make fun
Ancaster neighbours hated that Cadillac. Equipped with interior turntables and sound mixers, it blared hip-hop music in the driveway and shook their quiet suburban street.
Tirabassi didn't like her neighbours.
"They didn't like young people," she says.
LOL, no, sweetheart, it wasn't young people they didn't like, it was boneheads like you and your husband they didn't like, who didn't have any respect for people who worked hard for everything they have and didn't want to deal with their windows rattling from inconsiderate low-lifes like you, blasting your annoying music in their quiet neighborhood and thinking you're cool. Which you ain't.
I'm glad you lost it cuz boneheads like you don't deserve it.
Obviously this woman was not the brightest bulb in the factory, I get sad hearing how someone blew a large sum of money and has nothing to show for it. After all she will not be the first nor last lottery winner to buy a bunch of stuff she doesn't need, feud with her neighbors and go broke. To bad she never bothered to learn about how money works and what being rich is versus being wealthy.
"For someone who spent her teenage years bouncing around from shelter to shelter" why would she give her parents $1million if they were not in her life
they allowed her to live in shelters they are not worthy parents
Family and friends can be a lottery winners worse enemy. Maybe she thought the money would help repair the bond with her parents, bottom line is sometimes saying No to those closes to you can cause you to loose those relationships.
For me, just being seen in that Cadillac would be one of life's most embarrassing moments.
I would beat my boys azz if they did somthing like that.
"The Cadillac's in storage; it needs work done that she can't afford right now." I don't know just a suggestion how about selling all that junk in side to get the vehicle fix turntables and sound mixers
As long as they have that rabbit, they'll never go hungry!
Lol, I think that thing's too far gone, dallas.
She's probably gonna have to find another lunkhead with more money than brains, like herself.
Shame, she was set for life. People need to understand winning the lottery doesn't always enable you to live the high life, it can make you have a comftable life tho. She had more than enough to live a life of comfort, but that's her problem.
What powder Blue is not your color?
I would be willing to place a bet that everytime she sees that picture of her in front of a Truck she spent 200K on she kicks herself.
In her case she didn't win enough money to live like a Multi Millionaire, Thank god she lives in Canada becasue they dont' tax your win. If she was in the US she would have ran out of money even faster.
Just sickening. Welcome to lp TylerD67!
yeah comfortable life was in her grrasp, but she went for Gangsta! is prob back on f as well with 6 kids. it is a shame. but you gotta invest it before you spend it.
pity she couldnt teach her kids about being a respectful wealthy person. grateful for their good life, and a sense of duty to make life better for others, and not just themselves. instead of, " you have to work for a living "
Good grief, another broke lottery winner, boneheads
i have to agree,i doubt i will be a saint and flawless, i guress i will need financial advice, and lots of it. from many sources. listen to as many advisors as you can and pick what one you like. promisses of vast wealth? well maybe you dont need t, you're already wealthy. maybe they're trying to con you. diversify. i want to win to nevr have to worry about money again. reading all this i think my money worries would just be starting.
but ohh what a great thing to worry about.
I hate reading about stories like this, but you know what; it's neccessary so we'll know what not to do when and if we hit it big... New to the forum.. What's up LP?
Time And Time Again To Many Lottery Winwers Let The Money Control Them , Not Them Controlling The Money!!!!
Welcome to the LP BEZ22
Blah, Blah, Blah........ how many times have we heard the same old story, over and over and over and over and over and.......... again
LOL, that means that you are not dumb enough to win.Why are you playing?
The fool and their money are soon parted...
what's that?
Winning that amount of money doesn't allow you to live the life without thinking about money, it can make you very comfortable and have a nice house and a car or two and some nice gadgets but it doesn't allow you to spend like there is no tomorrow. A fool and their money soon parted.
The problem is that some of these lottery winners do seek financial advice but they ignore it. They go into 24 hour party mode and spend, spend, spend. They want to be rock stars and burn out quickly.
I just wish someone from LP could win it, I know they would be smart with their new blessing.
people win everyday from Lp, and there was a guy that won BIG from here
Oh really, how much did he win.
not sure
But it was B I G!
Hope they enjoyed it, hope it is me next. I got my eye on a nice little house.
I Hope so to you need a NICE house
Very wise words Josh!
The broke winner says "money is the root of all evil" ? BS! Your foolish spending was your downfall! As far as the $200,000 cadillac...I am lost for words.
Welcome! It's fun, informative, and sometimes controversial in the LP discussion forums, so embrace it :)
Haha! Right?!
Hey!!! Welcome to the lottery conversation!
I hope to win one day but I know it's very unlikely per the odds. If I did win however, I know I would be very prudent and savvy with my new wealth. I have seen way too many winners go broke. Not wanting to be on a list that includes David Edwards and the imbecile in this article would be motivation enough to manage my winnings very carefully should I ever be lucky enough to win.
I just can't envision winning and losing $10 million. It's almost sacrilegious in a way. To be blessed in such a way with a windfall like that and to blow it all on things like that cadillac?!?!
I dont understand people,if I won 10 mil I would buy a franchise,some kind of buisness and let folks work for me,She could have bought a 10 McDonalds,that is crazy to blow money like that.
It's sickening. It's their money to blow, but there is something just sickening and stomach turning about it.
I'd live off the interest. I'd budget $250,000 a year--I could live a very comfortable life with that. The rest of the interest would go to charities!!!
what ever happened to David Edwards, ? i read in lp about his conditioned that he had lost every penny he had i am wondering if he is still alive any comments from any one?
Do a search for his name, not sure what the latest news is on him. Last I heard he was penniless, lost his home to foreclosure in palm beach and was in a hospital with back problems. I heard something about his wife Shawna being dead of a drug overdose but didn't confirm this. For those that don't know DE won about $25 million back in 2001 and blew through EVERY SINGLE PENNY in about 5 years.
I agree.
"Money doesn't change men, it merely unmasks them. If a man is naturally selfish or arrogant or greedy, the money brings that out, that's all."
Henry Ford
So this is what it means when they say a fool and his money
parted.
Proverb
Just found this thought I'd post for all to see, it fits somebody
So true Jani thanks for sharing
Yep!!!l
For what ever reason, she didn't have proper financial advice.
So very true, thanks for sharing Jani
Thanks dallascowboyfan!
Don't buy a $200,000 Cadillac Escalade and years later can't afford to get it repaired..
Hey Megan81..glad to be here..I too have stalked, but now its time to post.
Yeeeee haaaaa!
I gotta get me a glass like that, Jani!
That guy looks like he already drank that first half, lol.
As the great Charlie Brown once said..." good grief".
Kinda hard to feel sorry for people like this.
It's hard to feel sorry for someone when you can clearly tell they wasted it all, just look at that Cadillac.
your right, i wouldn't spend $200,000 on a ($70,000) car
no wonder their Broke.
Hum, so net medium-multimillionaire, mass baby-making Sharon enjoys driving around her neighbors and neighboring cities while 'blasting agrivating, far-away window shaking sounds' from her vehicles. Meanwhile, her also mass baby-making husband, Vinnie, enjoys driving around those same places drunk and driving into people.
According to this article, at least Sharon's six children won't be welfare recipient adults; assuming that they live until the age of 26 years old, whereby they are eligable to each withdraw several hundred thousand dollars net out of their trust. At that time, I hope that they don't ruin/bring-down whatever cities they end up dwelling in, as their parents did (often times, rearing causes the fruit to not fall far from their originating tree).
you know, this makes me ill. i hoped to win the lottery to pay for a bone marrow transplant for my brother and a liver transplant for my mother. the government put a toxic uranium processing plant down the street and a neighbor put an illegal toxic waste dump next door. my neighborhood was decimated like love canal. we could have used the money to stay alive. i watch these morons blow through it like sailors on leave. i get mad that my family died because they were too poor and the nation doesn't care who they kill. buy your drugs, cars and junk but don't cry about it. you make your bed and lie in it.
The wrong mindset!!
"I lived like this my whole life, I never was rich"
"We grew up like this, so we're used to it"
Some people no matter how much money or good things happen to them, they will always
find a way to go back to whatever they're used to. These people were used to living paycheck to
paycheck and somewhere in their brain that is what is most comfortable to them no matter how big
their bank account got.
Like a women who finds a good man and all of a sudden she doesn't like him because "he's too nice".
Then goes back to dating guys who treats her like crap!!
Remember that show The Beverly Hillbillies ?
They came into a lot of money but they were still country as all get out!! lol
That's cute
That's awesome!!!!!!
Been a few years since I researched but don't recall her dying, he was out of the hospital and living with someone and his daughter and her boyfriend got caught up with a drug dealer and got arrested.
As for this, just another example of sense (if they had any to begin with) flying out the window when people coming into money this sort of way.
EDIT: Just looked at what's probably the source you saw, apparently still alive was locked up a few months ago. Some talk like he had his legs amputated but I dunno how much reliability there is in that info, way too much reading in that topic.
9 years.....10 million
I could ve gone 12 years -lol
I wondered this too. If they know that moneys in place for them....how will it affect their motivation to succeed on their own ? College,career , clout..
Is their much difference between the wealthy and the welfare when it comes to wanting more money? I hope they re smarter than the example.
That thing is so custom it's probably worthless, who would want that except some teenagers who can't afford it.
Yeah, because there's no way this woman wouldn't be a very savvy and successful businesswoman. McDonald's would never have let her have anything that isn't on the menu board.
We can only hope that the children don't end up like her and their fathers. Like I said in my earlier post the only smart thing she did was set up a trust for her kids. Hopefully there is some kind of stipulation in the trust that requires the children to graduate from High School /College or Trade School.
True, she needs to sell it so she can get a car.
Remember that show The Beverly Hillbillies ?
They came into a lot of money but they were still country as all get out!! lol
"I don't know where thet music's a comin' from but everytime I hear thet music, the next thing you know, somebody's at the front door." -Jed Clampett
Hi DC81
Yeah, thanks for the follow up to my post. The DE saga is sure an interesting one! If I remember correctly it said he would have been pulling in about $85,000/month in interest without even touching the principal amount. Just crazy that he blew through EVERY penny.
What am I missing? She had 5 mill it said left yet she lost her house when he went to jail? And why not have paid for the house in full instead of wasting money on vacations, cars, and what ever else?
Ah why can't someone who is not stupid win? lol
Wow...Nine kids! That's like the Brady Bunch plus the the Three Stooges.
That's a lot of mouths to feed.
that would be %10 on 10 mill, if you add %30 taxes, would mean an interest rate of %13+. at a more reasonable yeild of %5 , would be a return after taxes
$26700 / month. still how can you blow thru $300k interest a year?
simple never invest in the 1st place.
Wow she';s got a broken $200,000 dollars Escalade in storage and she's broke??? How do you afford to keep something like that in storage but you can afford to fix it?? What the heck is wrong with it?? Or her for that matter?? Sell it stop paying storage on broken stuff...
theres always food stamps.
This is very sad, they had a chance to improve their lives and didn't. That Escalade is just way over the top. I wouldn't mind nicer cars for me and my wife, but that is just nuts. Some just have to show off.
The giving money away I think is what ruins a lot of people. They give money to all of these people thinking they are going be around but as soon as the money is gone, they are gone.
If I were to win something like that, I would keep it as quiet is possible, and not give any money away and if anyone asks for money, they are out of my life for good.
What the heck does this have to do with the original story? Did you write "don't play any of that crazy Country & Western music" when that guy in West Virginia blew over $300 million?
There are many stories like this one and they're all sad (and pathetic!)
Except the Clampetts didn't blow all of their wealth. They obviously invested it in the bank or Milburn Drysdale wouldn't have catered so much to them.
One of my favorite lines ever in a comedy show:
Mr. Addison: Good afternoon, I'm Justin Addison.
Jed: Well shucks. Don't feel so bad about it. I'm just a Clampett.
It's really important that we know how to invest. Well it's a lesson learned to all lucky lotto winners. I hope the next winners will bear in their minds how to handle their finances well.
(1) Sleep: if you're poor and have a lumpy mattress, money will help you to buy a nicer one. If you live in a noisy apartment, money will give you the opportunity to relocate, maybe to a cabin in the mountains or a beach house on several acres overlooking the Pacific.
(2) Time: True, money cannot buy time, but it can buy you a better lawyer if you are serving it.
(3) Knowledge: Also true, but knowledge comes from many things, including a good education which is very expensive.
(4) Respect: Also true. However, if you have lots of money, you don't need a position, except for sitting in a comfortable chair when you're counting it.
(5) Health: Totally disagree. Good medical care is expensive. It's a fact that poor people have a significantly higher change of dying if diagnosed with a serious illness like cancer simply because they aren't diagnosed in the early stages.
(6) Life: Also true, money cannot buy you life. But in countries where there isn't enough food and medicine, children die from hunger and disease every day.
(7) Love - can't argue about this one. True love cannot be bought. However, I'd rather have a dog anyway.
Penniless millionaires-is that an oxymoron?
a typical person of her kind