Sue Radford, the 51-year-old mum of Britain's biggest family, has ruled out having a 23rd baby and revealed the secret behind her three-stone weight loss, denying accusations she used weight loss jabs.
Speaking exclusively to the Mirror, Sue, from Morecambe, Lancashire, said: "No, definitely not now. We're definitely enjoying the kids getting older and it's lovely being grandparents. We were thinking about this at the weekend because it's so lovely having children and grandchildren of similar ages as well and watching them grow up in the bonds that they have."
Family Life and New TV Series
Sue and husband Noel have been married for 34 years and were 14 and 18 when they welcomed their first child Christopher. Sue was 13 years old when she first became pregnant, while Noel was 17. They now have 14 grandchildren.
The couple are back on TV for a new series of their Channel 5 show, 22 Kids and Counting, which showed Sue undergoing a health and fitness transformation.
Health Transformation and Motivation
Sue decided to start her healthy eating journey when she turned 50, which she called a "turning point" for her. "It was looking back on my holiday pictures and seeing how big I got," she said. "I got to a point where I didn't even want to have pictures taken with the kids and things like that because I just didn't like looking at them. So that for me was a point where I thought 'I can't carry on like this'. I have to do something about it. And not only that, but the health side of it as well. You want to be around for your kids as long as you possibly can, be as healthy as you can be for them. Doing it has been really good for the family as well because we eat more healthily, and we just do better now because we're not eating junk food."
Sue says she feels "much happier" in herself since becoming healthier. "I just feel really, really good now, and I'm so glad that I stuck with it," she said. "It's definitely hard work, but if it's something you want to do, you have to change your eating habits, which takes a lot of willpower. I think after a few months of doing that, I definitely was not bothered about eating chocolate, fizzy pop, or cutting out sugar. So yeah, I definitely feel much better for doing it."
Dealing with Criticism
Despite feeling positive, Sue faced negativity after posting a photo of herself online following the weight loss. One comment referred to her as "mutton dressed as lamb". Sue brushed off the comments: "I think that comes with the territory, doesn't it? And you do have to expect that not everybody's going to be there cheering you on. I think you are going to get people who aren't so nice, and you just have to brush it off. Because, for me my confidence is definitely there now, and I feel confident enough to post pictures like that. I'm not bothered what other people think now. It doesn't matter."
Noel said he is "really proud" of Sue and insisted she hasn't been using weight loss jabs. "Nobody ever believes you can just do it by you know dieting and keeping healthy and a bit more exercise, do they? Everyone thinks, oh, you must be cheating," he said. "But I'm really proud of her. It's been hard work for her, especially at the beginning."
Weight Loss Method
Opening up about how she lost the weight, Sue said: "I think [how I lost the weight is] more about the healthy eating side of it. I did take Berberine, which I do still actually take now, along with going to the gym and things like that."
Sue added: "I definitely feel proud of myself for doing it. I'm so glad that I gave myself a kick up the a*** and got on with it because otherwise, I don't think I would have been confident, and I wouldn't want pictures taken with the kids. So for me, it was just something I needed to do."
22 Kids and Counting airs Sundays at 8pm on Channel 5.
