A woman of 21 children stunned television watchers when she disclosed that she was just 13 years old when she became pregnant with her husband, who was 18 at the time.
Sue and Noel Radford originally gained notoriety in 2008, when it was revealed that the baker and his wife were expecting 13 children.
Mrs. Radford has had eight more children since then, the most recent of whom was the focus of a Channel 4 documentary called 21 Kids and Counting, which aired yesterday night.
However, while people praised the pair for their dedication and congratulated them on their new addition, one disclosure made during the broadcast sparked debate.
The documentary’s narrator claimed that Mrs. Radford, now 42, first fell pregnant ’29 years ago,’ which viewers calculated would have put her at the age of 13. When the kid was born, her husband Noel would have been 18 years old.
Nina Marshall, a spectator, praised the couple’s ‘adorable’ children but described the circumstances around their first child’s birth as ‘strange.’ ‘They are great children, but I can’t help but feel a little strange about the fact that he got a 13-year-old pregnant when he was 18 years old,’ she said.
‘I can’t get over the notion that an 18-year-old got a 13-year-old girl pregnant, I mean it’s a crime!’ commented another viewer, Paige O’Neill.
The Radford family’s history
Noel Radford was born on December 24, 1970.
Sue Radford was born on March 22, 1975.
Sue was seven years old when they first met in 1982.
Chris, their first child, was born in 1989.
1993 Sophie, the couple’s second child, was born after the couple married. Since then, children have arrived in rapid succession.
After Sophie gave birth to Daisy in August 2012, they welcomed their first granddaughter.
Alfie, a son born in July 2014, was stillborn.
Sophie gave birth to her second child, Ayprll, in October 2014.
Sophie married Joe Broadley in August of 2015.
Sophie gave birth to her third child, Leo Thomas, in December 2015.
The first child was born in June of 2017. Maisie, Chris’s daughter, is born.
Sue gives birth to her 21st child in November 2018.
‘So he first got her pregnant when she was 13 and he was 17/18?’ commented a viewer named Rebecca. Disgusting. Also, his pie shop isn’t going to be able to cover all of that.’
‘Did he actually have a child with her when she was a youngster!?’ shouted another.
#21kidsandcounting
The pair previously stated that they were adamant about keeping their first child, Chris because they were both adopted as babies. They married and moved live together four years after his birth in 1989. Mrs. Radford’s second child, Sophie, was born when she was 17 years old.
In the United Kingdom, the legal age of consent for sexual conduct is 16. Since 1885, the age of sexual consent for women in England and Wales has been fixed at 16, after activists battled to raise it from 13 in order to avoid child prostitution.
Anyone who engages in sexual behavior with a child under the age of 16 is breaking the law, according to the legislation.
However, according to Home Office instructions, there is no intention of prosecuting teens under the age of 16 who agree and are of a similar age.
The couple’s children expressed their disbelief at the announcement of the latest pregnancy on Wednesday night’s show, with the children going on camera to say that they didn’t believe their mother when she originally informed them.
Chloe joked that she had definitely stopped taking her contraceptive,’ while James, 15, said he had often wondered what went through his parents’ heads and that they ‘didn’t know when to stop.’
The show depicted Mr Radford working in his pie shop, which he manages with the support of his daughter Chloe, to highlight the financial difficulties the family is about to confront with another kid on the way.
However, other viewers resorted to social media to express their dissatisfaction with the ‘strain’ they were placed on government services.
‘I don’t get what inspires this family,’ one person stated. Pregnant at 13 by an 18-year-old, they continue to reproduce despite the strain on the environment and public services. I have no admiration for you. #21kidsandcounting.’
Mr Radford, on the other hand, underlined that the family was not on benefits and that most people just thought they were because the rest of society was ‘paying for them.’
Mrs Radford discussed her uncomplicated labor with her last child with This Morning broadcasters Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford only last year.
‘She was pretty speedy, she wasn’t lingering around – I guess they’ve got my labor down to about 12 minutes,’ she remarked on the This Morning sofa.
‘Last time, I said there would be no more.’ I believe we enjoy having such a large family. Welcoming a new addition to our family. We’re going to stop if it’s an addiction. We will always have a large number of grandchildren.’
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF THE RADFORDS: HOW THE UNITED KINGDOM’S LARGEST FAMILY SPENDS A COMMON DAY
Mr. Radford returns home every day at 7.45 a.m. after an early start in the bakery to sort out the kids and get them to school’s childcare.
The night before, they wash and layout all of their uniforms, and breakfast is split into two shifts.
Six of the children attend the same primary school, which is 10 minutes away, and five of the children attend secondary school. Noel transports them in a minibus that is permitted to utilize bus lanes because it carries more than nine passengers.
Oscar, Caspar, and Hallie, Sue’s three youngest children, remain at home with her, while Oscar attends nursery in the afternoons.
The family goes through nine loads of laundry every day, 30 bottles of washing liquid per month, and four toilet paper rolls each day.
They feed the family for £300 a week, using deals with their local butcher and greengrocer to feed them all spaghetti or a large stew.
Bathtime at home starts at 6 p.m., and while the smaller children are bathed and in bed by 7 p.m., the older children stay up until 9 p.m.
By 10 p.m., Mr. and Mrs. Radford claim to be in bed.
The family now lives in a magnificent £240,000 Victorian property that they acquired 11 years ago, which was previously a care facility, and they take satisfaction in having no credit cards or financial arrangements.
Every year, they also take a vacation overseas.
They spend £300 every week on groceries, using 18 pints of milk, three liters of juice, and three boxes of cereal each day.
When it comes to celebrating their children’s birthdays, they set aside £100 for gifts, while during Christmas, they allocate between £100 and £250.
Her husband got a vasectomy during his wife’s ninth pregnancy, but when they chose to have additional children, he had it reversed.
The couple was filmed in their ten-bedroom home for the Channel 4 show 16 Kids and Counting in 2013.
Mrs. Radford, who does not receive any state benefits other than child benefits, gave birth to a son named Alfie when she was 23 weeks pregnant the following year.
