W
here does an 84-year-old Florida woman go shopping after winning the largest single Powerball jackpot in U.S. history? Walmart, of course, according to a London's Daily Mail exclusive, appearing online Wednesday.
Gloria MacKenzie recently came forward as the $590 million lottery winner. Lottery officials said she decided to take the lump sum of $287.17 million after taxes, according to the Daily Mail.
The high-rolling granny, though, has chosen Walmart and eating at the Crazy Egg café and being chauffeured about by her son Scott in his aged Ford Focus. Most of the information comes from Scott MacKenzie's ex-wife Ella. The Daily Mail article said the two remain good friends but divorced 10 years ago after Scott came out as gay, the article said.
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Ella told the Daily Mail that MacKenzie and her son, 57, are waiting for the elder MacKenzie's new home to be built where they will live together with Scott's boyfriend Jerry Cruz, 65.
"I was so pleased for them when I found out they had won," Ella told the Daily Mail. "It really is great news. The three of them are going to be living together. Scott wanted to move in with his mom because he was worried about how she would cope on her own."
According to the Daily Mail, Gloria MacKenzie lost her husband, Ralph, in 2005 and she moved into a small home in the Tampa suburb of Zephyrhills. That is where MacKenzie purchased her winning, from a grocery store for $2 on May 18.
Ella, whose last name was not identified, said that MacKenzie and her son also feared for their safety after some threatening calls so they were determined to keep a low profile, according to the Daily Mail.
If MacKenzie has splurged any it may have been at a rumored sighting at BuddyFreddy's restaurant in Plant City, Fla., where diners at the restaurant said that a MacKenzie lookalike paid for the meals of nearly 200 diners after eating, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
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"It sure looked like her," restaurant manager Stephanie Reaves told the Tampa Bay Times. "She looked like the woman on TV. Reaves said the woman never identified herself the told her that she was not the lottery winner.
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