SUE and Noel Radford’s eldest daughter Sophie broke down in tears on tonight’s 22 Kids and Counting after revealing her split from her husband Joe Bradley.
The couple, who share Daisy, 13, Ayprill, 11, and Leo, 10, decided to go their separate ways following 10 years of marriage, despite trying to avoid “separating” their family.
On tonight’s show, which aired on Channel 5, Sophie, 32, admitted her and Joe had been having troubles for a while.
She shared: “I’ve been bottling a lot in the past year, and I haven’t told my family everything that’s been going on, all the problems.
“I now face the fact that marriage doesn’t seem to be exactly what you want it to be, and it’s not resolving itself.
“I feel like because mum and dad always got so much going on, I don’t want to burden them with my problems.
“I am kind of reaching a point now where I’ve got to do something about it. My marriage isn’t working.”
Sophie shared how she had done a six-week trial separation with Joe, but they hadn’t managed to resolve their issues.
The mum-of-three added: “Joe has moved out for a trial. This is like very raw, literally just happened. He’s living with one of his family members.
“I don’t really want to be going into it [the reason why], because obviously it is private. Me and Joe both see things very differently.
“It’s not like it used to be, if that makes sense, we’ve just grown apart.”
Telling Sue and Noel
When the separation wasn’t a success, Sophie later on the show decides to be honest with her mum and dad and admits “we’ve both come to terms with the fact that me and Joe are definitely finally over.”
Sharing how she had been having troubles with Joe, she said: “My emotions have been very much up and down. I would say more down than up.
“The family unit is a massive thing to me. But it gets to a point, doesn’t there, where you have to think, ‘is that the right thing?’”
TV personality, 50, Sue, who shares 22 children with her husband Noel Radford, 55, admitted she thought something was wrong as Sophie hadn’t been her “bright and bubbly” self.
She reassured her daughter: “Everybody wants their marriage to work, don’t they?
“They want the love story, but unfortunately, sometimes it doesn’t [work] for whatever reason.”
Sophie added: “It’s very, very hard even thinking about coming out of a relationship, after so many years, everything that we’ve built together, house, children, all of that, you’ve literally got to think of everything. So it’s not an easy process.
“We have tried everything, so us separating permanently will probably be better.
“I just don’t feel like I’ve got any other option, really. But it also scares me.”
Later on the show, Sue shared: “ I think Sophie’s at the stage where she’s been brave and she’s been bold.
“She’s done what she needed to do, but I think she’s now facing the reality of what that actually means.”
Noel added: “So it means an empty house, financial worries and no partner.”
Moving out
When Joe moves his belongings out the house, Sophie is left in tears, and tells her parents: “My anxiety has been quite bad the past few days, but it’s bound to be up and down, isn’t it?”
Sue comforted her saying: “You’ve just got to take it one step at a time, haven’t you?
“These hard days won’t last for long, will they? And then you’ll be back to you.”
Sue and her husband Noel are well-known as Britain’s biggest family as they share children including Chris, 36, Sophie, 32, Chloe, 30, Jack, 28, Daniel, 26, Luke, 25, Millie, 24, Katie, 23, James, 22, Ellie, 20, Aimee, 19, Josh, 18, Max, 17, Tillie, 15, Oscar, 14, Casper, 13, Hallie, 10, Phoebe, nine, Archie, eight, Bonnie, seven, and Heidie, five.
‘Happier single’
Speaking to The Mirror ahead of the new series airing, Sue said: “We are really proud of Sophie for sharing this on camera. She wanted to share how she was feeling and how she is feeling now.”
However, she recognised that the 32-year-old is “happier” as a single mother.
Meanwhile, Noel recognised that he and his wife have known Joe for a long time, and want him to be happy too.
When questioned if they would like their daughter Sophie to meet someone new, Sue said that Sophie is in “no rush.”
She also recognised that Sophie is getting herself into a routine now that she is a single mum.
However, the parents acknowledged they would like to see their eldest daughter with someone new when she is ready for a new relationship.
Noel explained: “Yes, definitely. But when she is ready. She is in no rush.”
It comes after Sophie briefly mentioned that she had split from her husband last year.
Back in May, taking to her Instagram stories, the mum-of-three shared a snap of herself relaxing in a cream pair of pyjamas complete with fluffy slippers.
Sophie was asked by a curious fan if she was single after being married for almost ten years.
Unfortunately, the mum-of-three’s reply implied the marriage hadn’t worked out as she simply said: “YES. That’s all that will be said on it.”
22 Kids and Counting airs on Channel 5 at 8pm on Sunday
How does family-of-22 the Radfords afford to live?
AS Britain’s biggest family, it may come as no surprise that Sue and Noel Radford must have some hefty bills.
Between them, they have a whopping 22 children and seven dogs, which often has some people wonder how they manage their money.
The Radfords support themselves with the proceeds of Noel’s bakery, The Radford Pie Company, which is located near their home.
On their website, it says: “We have owned our own lovely bakery since 1999 which is how we manage to provide for (and feed) our huge and expanding family as well as for the local people of Heysham and Morecambe.”
The family expanded their business to cater to online orders placed across the UK.
The business is a family affair, with Noel at the helm, and some of their children helping out.
The older kids, who are working at least part-time, don’t get a free ride as they’re made to pay a small amount of rent to their parents.
“Us older ones do pay a little bit of board. Granted it’s not a lot but I’m also trying to save up for my own house at the moment.” their daughter Chloe said in a video on the YouTube channel.
Sue added: “We’ve always said if you want to buy somewhere, renting is a bit of dead money, so we’d rather you saved that money up and stayed at home a bit longer.
“I also do believe they should pay board if they are earning. We’ve always been brought up by our parents that we had to pay board.”
Noel and Sue famously don’t rely on benefits for their bumper brood and live off their pie shop for income.
They also revealed they make money from brand partnerships on social media.
The Radford family stars in their own reality TV show 22 Kids and Counting – which has run for four series.
Brand expert Andy Barr believes Noel and Sue have been paid less than £10,000 for each show.
He told the Daily Mail: “The typical fee per episode is going to be in the thousands rather than the tens or hundreds of thousands that people often think is the case with TV shows of this nature.
“If they continue to get commissioned for a fourth or fifth season, then they are going to be able to command a higher fee.”
He estimates that the Radfords make £ 5,000 an episode.
