I’m the Benefits Queen, I splashed my cash on horses and surgery – but I still don’t get enough cash from the government

MARIE Buchan first hid the headlines over 10 years ago after complaining that her £500 a week benefits weren't enough to live on due to her choice to have eight children.

And in the intervening years she enraged the public by admitting that she managed to save enough money to not only go abroad for a boob job but buy a horse too.

Marie Buchan once splashed her benefit on designer clothes and even a pet horseCredit: Supplied

But now the mum-of-eight says she is struggling to make ends meetCredit: BPM Media

Marie says she is unable to find work and four of ger grown up children are now claiming benefits tooCredit: Supplied

Now she receives half of that amount - £253 - due to four of her children, Tia, 23, Leah, 22,

La Toya, 19, and Joshua, 18, no longer qualifying for child benefit.

Scrimping and saving

Speaking exclusively to Fabulous, from her home in Selly Oak, Birmingham, Marie, 42, who also has Alisha, 15, Mikayla, 13, Amelia, 11, and Olivia, 10, says, “We’re really struggling.

"I’ve had to visit a food bank and even sold my horse eight months ago as I couldn’t afford the expense.

Future benefits royalty

However those four older children are following in their mum’s footsteps and are all now claiming universal credit, estimated to be around £292.11 each, to add to the kitty as they still live at home and are unemployed.

The former lap dancer, who is currently signed off due to mental health issues, says, “It’s so hard for them to find work.

“They left school with qualifications but they can’t get jobs because they haven’t got any experience.

“It’s a vicious circle – two of them are back in college and doing everything they can to get out of the system, one wants to get into building and the other nursing.

“I might have to go back to work too, I want to be a mechanic and I’ve got some training in it, I feel I’m wasting my life and need to achieve something.

“However, I’ve found that garages are very sexist and I think they’re reluctant to employ a woman, so I’d need to set up on my own which would cost at least £5,000.

I look back at the person I was then and feel like an idiot for spending so much.
Marie Buchan

“And it’s hard to know where to start, I’d need to go back to college for a refresher course and if I was working then I’d have to top up my rent payments, at the moment it’s only £32 a week, so I might end up worse off.

“I never regret having my kids of course, I wish I’d managed to have a career too.”

Marie says that the cost of living has had an enormous impact on her mental and physical health.

“And now we’re feeling the pinch and it’s taking its toll on my health,” she says.

“I’m losing my hair because of the stress and I’ve put on two stone.

“I did contemplate doing OnlyFans to get some extra cash, but I don’t think anyone would want to see my body at the moment.”

Past regrets

Marie admits that faced with her current money woes, she regrets frittering her cash away when she was getting £500 a week and topping it up with care work and car boot sales.

She says, “I look back at the person I was then and feel like an idiot for spending so much.

“And even more for boasting about it.

“It must have been so galling for working people to hear me bragging about things like my surgery and wanting more children when they were subsidising me.

“Though I still don’t think I deserved all the trolling I got – one man even spat in my face which was disgusting, that was the worst thing that happened to me, but I also got death threats and told I shouldn’t be allowed to have my babies.