22 Kids and Counting star Noel Radford defended himself getting wife Sue pregnant at 13

22 Kids and Counting star Noel Radford once defended himself getting his wife Sue pregnant aged just 13.

The 53-year-old father, who is just one small fraction of 'Britain's largest family', is best known for his appearance on the Channel 5 programme.

And, in his new book released in February this year, he spoke out about his relationship with Sue and the ages they were when they welcomed their first of their 22 children.

In the book titled The Radfords: Making Life Count, Noel addresses the comments about the respective ages he and Sue were when they had their first child.

Noel was 17 when he learned he was going to become a father while Sue was four years his junior.

However, after receiving some criticism online after it came up on one of their TV shows, Noel has since come forward to explain they 'were both just kids'.

"People have inevitably talked about the situation and it has been written about in the newspapers and discussed on social media," he wrote.

Sue and Noel Radford opened up about their relationship in their book titled The Radfords: Making Life Count. (Instagram/@theradfordfamily)

The reality TV star continued: "There has been a lot of focus on it and, in a way, it was probably worse for us than when it actually happened. So many people have given their opinions.

"But we were both kids it was not as if I was 10 or 15 years older than Sue.

"For a lot of people, though, things are just black and white and you are tarnished with the same brush as other people in totally different situations.

"We were young and we were daft. But we wanted to continue as a couple."

The father-of-22 also shared he didn't get in any official trouble over the age situation as it was 'down to your mums and dads', adding that there was 'no knock on the door saying I was in big trouble'.

Sue and Noel have been together for 35 years and have had 22 children together. (Channel 5)

Between them, Sue and Noel are parents to; Chris, 35, Sophie, 30, Chloe, 28, Jack, 27, Daniel, 25, Luke, 23, Millie, 22, Katie, 21, James, 20, Ellie, 19, Aimee, 18, Josh, 17, Max, 15, Tillie, 14, Oscar, 12, Casper, 11, Hallie, nine, Phoebe, eight, Archie, six and Bonnie, five.

Their youngest, Heidie, is just four years old.

They also had a child in 2014 named Alfie but he was sadly stillborn.

And, even while Sue has spent nearly 17 years of her life pregnant, she still isn't ruling out expanding her family of 22.