A WOMAN who has the body of an eight-year-old girl despite being 25 has opened up about the dangers for her with dating.
Shauna Rae, who stands at 3ft10, revealed her parents were sadly forced to teach her how to avoid predators.
Shauna Rae is stuck in an eight-year-old’s body due to cancer treatment[/caption]
Speaking on The Unplanned Podcast, Shauna shared: “It’s very easy to be prey in this world as a tiny little girl, and my parents taught me that from a very young age.
“They told me, ‘Look, any guy that’s interested in you, any person that’s interested in you, you have to read into them because there’s a chance that it’s about your size.
“I grew up knowing that, and it was scary. I was scared to date. I was scared to flirt with anyone. I was even scared to be asked out.”
Shauna shared how she was previously asked out in a cafeteria and her immediate thought was “are you a predator?”
She continued: “I just couldn’t say yes.
“I remember wondering what the conversation about dating was like between my mum and my stepdad.
“When they finally sat me down to talk about it, they said, ‘Look, when it comes to romantic things, people may view you differently.
“‘But what you want to look for is building a friendship, building a base. Because at the end of the day, it’s not about looks.
“‘You’re going to get old. You’re going to get ugly. You’re going to get grouchy.’
“They told me, ‘You want to find someone with whom you can build a strong foundation and a bond.
“‘You’ll probably end up with someone who was your friend for a really, really long time—someone who eventually realises they like you.
“‘And that’s going to be your situation.’”
Shauna, who is the star of her own TV show I am Shauna Rae, suffers from a rare condition that makes her look younger than her age.
She was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer when she was six months old and underwent chemotherapy.
The young woman stands at just three-foot 10 – the same as an eight-year-old and weighs just 50 pounds[/caption]
Her condition is due to a side effect of brain cancer treatment she had when she was younger[/caption]
Shauna was six-months-old when doctors found an aggressive brain tumour and went through three years of successful chemotherapy[/caption]
While the radiation successfully rid her body of cancer, it caused her pituitary gland to not function properly.
The pituitary gland affects the “brain, skin, energy, mood, reproductive organs, vision, growth, and more,” according to the Cleveland Clinic.
At just 16 years old, Shauna learned that she was officially done developing, despite taking growth hormones.
In her show, fans see Shauna’s day-to-day struggles due to her appearance, including getting turned away by bartenders and having problems getting tattoos or a gym membership.
I was scared to date. I was scared to flirt with anyone. I was even scared to be asked out
Shauna Rae
Due to her condition, Shauna has found dating to be a struggle and revealed on the show that she was currently single.
“It’s hard to meet new people because people don’t understand that I’m an adult,” she confessed during the show’s premiere.
“My last relationship ended because he didn’t want to go out to, like, a restaurant with me or just go out and take a walk with me.”
She went on to explain that she tends to attract “creeps, a**holes, and idiots.”
Despite her troubles with dating and meeting people, Shauna was romantically linked to British CEO Dan Swygart.
Their relationship was shown on season 2 of the show.
Ex boyfriend Dan Swygart reached out to Shauna after seeing the first season of her TLC documentary – but they have since split[/caption]
In December 2023, the reality TV star revealed she was dating someone new.
The Instagram announcement was a series of pictures with emojis covering her new beau’s face.
She captioned the post, “Please know that all I ask from y’all is to support me and refrain from being hateful toward them or my relationship.”
In a February interview on The Sarah Fraser Show, Shauna revealed that despite often attracting the wrong men, she does have sex and it boosts her confidence.
“It was confirmation that I can kind of do whatever I want, because growing up I was told that it might not be a possibility,” she explained.
“And when I found the boyfriend that I had and we dated for a couple years and it finally happened, it made me feel like a normal woman.”
Her TLC documentary follows her trying to lead a normal life[/caption]
She added that she has no problem having sex and can “do all those normal things other humans do in those activities.”
Speaking of why she decided to be so open about such a personal subject, she said: “I know sex is a huge topic when it comes to disability and just dwarfism in general, so it is something that is touchy.
“But it’s something that needs to be talked about.
“I don’t think sex should be so taboo as it is in our society.”
She also said that she’s super glad that her body works in that way, considering her circumstances.
