Radfords

[Overstuffedburitto]

I just saw in the news that the Redford family have had another baby bringing the count to 20.

I have seen them in passing but thought the mum looks very young so googled it and saw she had her first at 13 when her partner was 17. AIBU to think that she was the victim of grooming and coercion by an older male?
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radford_family

Or are they a lovely happy family and I am a crazy woman?

The last thing I want to do is offend anyone here so apologies if this is seen in bad taste about a woman who's just given birth, but I genuinely don't understand how this family are played out as media darling when they met under what I think are pretty unpleasant circumstances when I consider the 13 and 17 year olds I know.

[Overstuffedburitto]

www.ok.co.uk/celebrity-news/1182476/the-radford-family-baby-number-20-sue-radford-noel-19-kids-and-counting-boy-name

Radfords not Redford - sorry

[wizzywig]

13?! Wow. Rather her than me

[ParsnipLeekAndLemonSoup]

No YANBU but these threads always kick off.

[Overstuffedburitto]

Oh god I had no idea they'd been threads on them before - I searched and couldn't see anything so asked because I am genuinely interested in the media view/real life situation of women like mrs Radford. I don't want to offend anyone, and they certainly seem to love their children, it just seems bizarre to me so I asked. Oops.

[AllMyFriendsAreHeathens]

I had to laugh when I read he won't have a vasectomy because it was too painful when he had it reversed last time.

Also baffled at his comment "now we can get on and enjoy the kids"...what, hadn't they been 'enjoying' them already?

[WillowWeeping]

I agree OP but this thread will vanish - the family are very hot on avoiding suggestions that the dad is somewhat inappropriate

[WindwardCircle]

Threads on the Radfords often get pulled, that's possibly why you couldn't find any.

[Overstuffedburitto]

Ahhhh so that's why I couldn't find anything by searching!

[MyBreadIsEggy]

Yeah, these threads usually get pulled because god forbid anyone point out the fact that when Mrs R became pregnant with baby number 1, Mr R had actually committed a crime by having sex with her

[Overstuffedburitto]

Exactly -it's a fact- she was 13, it's listed on Wikipedia ffs! Why would MN censor a conversation about people who want the media spotlight? It's not as if they are attempting to live a private life.

[LaurieFairyCake]

It's difficult. I'd be very judgemental now if this happened as our culture towards this has changed for the better since they got together quarter of a century ago.

It was much more usual to have 13 and 14 year olds hanging out with 16 and 17 year olds then, we thought we were all right cool. As a 13 year old I was letched at constantly by older men, Benny Hill was normal comedy and the Sun did a countdown to Sam Fox turning 16.

All absolutely revolting. But we were also more innocent and knew a lot less about sex and the consequences. When I was 13/14 I dated 16 year olds and they really weren't more mature than me.

So I wouldn't want to judge the father by modern day standards more than I'd judge the whole culture.

They look like a very content family now, though the idea of having so many children baffles me.

[NYConcreteJungle]

They often skip over the age difference when the first child was born.

[greendale17]

20 kids???? Apparently their daughter already has a few kids so looks like history will be repeating itself

[Overstuffedburitto]

I'm the same age as her and when I was 13 I remember the Benny hill jokes etc but I was playing with my cats and watching Grange Hill, 17 yo brother was driving, drinking and smoking - we seemed to 'grow up' age 15-17 really, but I totally accept it's different for different people.

[TimbuktuTimbuktu]

Are they Quiverful or just really into kids?

[makeourfuture]

I think it has been shown that with increased education, workforce liberalisation and female empowerment birthrates decline. I would think with anything like this there will be individual instances that do not follow.

I don't know if going back and attempting a forensic analysis of why these people have 20 children would be practical. The size of the family doesn't bother me at all, again the trends are downward.

[NYConcreteJungle]

I don't think they are any religion. They were both only children and adopted.

[Overstuffedburitto]

The way they speak about the family it's like it's an obsession or collection, odd stilted language but it's mostly tabloid press.

[Logans]

the Sun did a countdown to Sam Fox turning 16.



That is DISGUSTING. I am shocked that was acceptable, even then.

[Logans]

I agree OP, regarding the age gap. Though clearly it was far more acceptable back then.

I think I read somewhere that (even aside from having a baby at 13) they both had difficult childhoods, so I think it's plausible they may have had 20 children to fill an emotional gap.

I really don't think 20 is fair on the children. The best mother in the world couldn't give 20 each enough attention, IMHO.

[DeleteOrDecay]

the Sun did a countdown to Sam Fox turning 16.

Horrendous. Really sad that that sort of thing was once considered acceptable.

YANBU op, but usually these threads descend into chaos when people bring it up so don your hard hat.

[Mrstrumpalot]

Not this again.

[Redhead17]

20 threads and counting

[treaclesoda]

I clicked the Wikipedia link and these aren't the people I thought they were. I thought they were American religious people, with the son who abused the daughters. Who am I mixing them up with?

[Overstuffedburitto]

As I said, I searched and couldn't see any prev threads so had no idea it was a contentious topic on MN.

I've no axe to grind but am interested in how they are media darlings and had a TV show etc.

I have been warned it'll be deleted and if that's what MN do I am interested why? It's a genuine topic although I appreciate there have been prev threads I've never seen them so can't comment.