When Joe Johnson asked his girlfriend Lisa to marry him, she had no idea what kind of surprise he had in store. Johnson, who won the lottery three years prior to their engagement, kept his wealth a secret from his fiancee in hopes she would not judge him by his money. He wore ratty clothes, took Lisa on cheap dates and drove around in a beat-up Land Rover. Her engagement ring? He bought a bargain one for less than $300. But Lisa was ecstatic about the engagement and wasn’t hesitant to say yes when he proposed.

Shortly after their engagement, Johnson finally came clean to his girlfriend and told her he wasn’t exactly strapped for cash.

“I thought he was a struggling divorce who could only afford to take me to cheap noodle bars and Beefeater restaurants,” the now married Lisa Johnson told Lottery Post. “Suddenly, he was telling me he could afford anything he wanted. It felt like a betrayal.”

Johnson kept his riches a secret because of his previous relationships with women who only loved him for his money.

“Now we are married, I’m relieved that he did lie,” Lisa said. “Because there is a 23-year age gap between us, people sometimes look at me and think I’m after his money. But I can say with complete honesty that I fell in love with a man who I believed had nothing.”

Although for this particular scenario I think keeping the lottery winnings a secret worked in their favor, but what about other scenarios? Is there ever an appropriate time to keep a major secret from your fiance/ee in hopes it betters the relationship?