Sue Radford, the matriarch of the UK's largest family, has opened up about her early life, including being adopted as a baby and becoming a mother at 14. The 49-year-old star of Channel 5's '22 Kids and Counting' has spoken candidly about her past, revealing that she has no desire to meet her biological parents.
In a previous episode of the show, Sue said: 'My birth mum was in the same situation as I was in. But I chose to keep my baby, and my mum put me up for adoption. My birth mum didn't want me, and that does affect you.' She added that she could never give a child up, stating: 'As a mother, you have that child inside you for nine months, you grow that child and then you give birth to that child and for me, I could never, ever imagine handing that child over.'
Sue met her husband Noel when she was seven and he was 11, as he was friends with her older brother. Their relationship became serious when Sue was 13, and she became pregnant shortly after. In their book, Sue wrote: 'From the word go – from the very moment I realised I was pregnant and told Noel – we knew we were going to keep our child. It didn't matter that I was just 13 and at school, and Noel was just 17 and at catering college.' The couple married in 1992 when Sue was 17 and Noel was 21.
The Radfords have also experienced tragedy, losing their 17th child, a son named Alfie, who was stillborn at around 21 weeks in 2014. Sue described the moment they learned of the loss: 'We went to the hospital and they couldn't find a heartbeat. The doctor scanned me and that's when they said 'I'm really sorry, but he has died'.' The family now refer to Alfie as 'our missing heartbeat', and Sue has a tattoo of his handprints and footprints.
