Sue Radford, matriarch of the UK's largest family with 22 children, has opened up about a challenging period in the 2000s when she considered leaving her husband Noel due to financial strain from their pie shop business.
The couple invested in a high street location in Kendal, Cumbria, to expand their business, but the 2001 foot-and-mouth disease outbreak devastated the region's tourism, leading to severe debt. Sue admitted to the Mirror: 'There were days when I'd think: "that's it, I'm leaving the business and Noel, I just can't do it anymore."' She added that the stress was constant, saying: 'You used to go to bed thinking about the debt, you'd wake up thinking about the debt... If anything was going to have caused us to get a divorce, it was this.'
Despite the crisis, the couple stayed together, with Sue noting: 'Our marriage has always been strong – and having the kids kept us right. We stuck together and got through it. It was sink or swim and we chose to swim.' The family discussed the ordeal on a March 2023 episode of their Channel 5 show, 22 Kids & Counting.
Earlier this year, Sue and Noel relocated to a countryside home with their youngest children, while older children remained in the family's Victorian house in Morecambe, Lancashire. The new five-bedroom property, listed at £850,000, was described by Sue as their 'dream home'. However, space constraints have led some older children to seek alternative living arrangements, including plans to move to Australia or explore Manchester's gay village.
