I was the Benefits Queen raking in £26k – I splashed taxpayers’ cash on holidays and a horse but now can’t afford to eat
A MUM who boasted about splashing her £26k annual benefits on luxury holidays and a horse has revealed that she’s surviving on food banks after having her hand-outs cut.
Marie Buchan, 41, earned the title of the Queen of Benefits after she revealed she scraped by on £500 a week while bringing up her children Tia, Leah, Latoya, Joshua, Alisha, Mikayla, Amelia and Olivia, arguing she worked 21 hour days to stay afloat.
But the mum-of-eight was heavily criticised after she appeared on This Morning where she revealed the taxpayer had funded her cosmetic surgery, luxury holidays and a £600 horse.
However, Marie, from Birmingham, says that the days of frittering away her income is long gone and since becoming a grandmother in October she has made some serious cuts.
Speaking exclusively to Fabulous, Marie says: “As my kids have got older I have really lost out on my benefits because they’re no longer kids but they’re all still living with me.
“My income has gone down to just £350 a week since the kids have left school but I still have to pay £20 of rent and £140 of council tax with that.
“I’ve had to use food banks because by the time I have paid for my gas and electric I’ve got absolutely nothing left. It’s unreal.
“I’ve been forced to claim a £120 one off hardship payment and I am also accessing £60 food vouchers from the kids’ school but it doesn’t go far enough.
“Luckily the housing association is also giving out Aldi vouchers or else I’d really be snookered.”
Marie says that the cost of living crisis means that she’s been forced to give up one of her most prized possessions.
“I will have to sell the horse which breaks my heart,” the mum says.
“His stables are costing me £80 a week and the food on top of that is a cost I just can’t afford right now.
“He was something I always wanted but what choice do I have?”
Marie admits that she regrets crowing about her previously ‘luxury lifestyle.’
She says: “I probably shouldn’t have made such an extravagant purchase, I see where people are coming from.
“A lot of people are working full time and can’t afford luxuries so it is quite bad of me to shout and scream about my lifestyle.
“I have had to really scale back on my own purchases. I was previously so flashy with my cash.
“I bought holidays, boob jobs and of course my lovely horse but you can’t buy anything now, I regret being such a spendthrift.”
Despite scaling back on her pricey purchases, Marie says that she’s still the target of cruel trolls who she says have no right to bad mouth her.
“Still to this day I am the target of online trolls,” Marie says.
“They call me the scum of the earth and even receive death threats.
“It never makes me question whether I should be claiming benefits though, if you’re entitled to them then I don’t see the issue.
“I’m known for being on the doll but I bet that the same people who were giving me hate for that have been claiming their free electricity vouchers.”
Marie says that those who criticise her should put themselves in her position.
“If my trolls lived a week in my shoes they wouldn’t be able to handle it,” she says.
“I spend at least £200 a week on food and after I have paid my bills I’m left with virtually nothing.
“Being on benefits is not a luxury lifestyle, I dare any of my trolls to try it they would eat their words.”