Missing; What Happened to Shauna Rae? Long Island NY TV’s Biggest Small Star: Shauna Rae is TV’s biggest small star. Pint-sized Shauna Rae is fast becoming a household name thanks to her hit reality series airing on TLC. “I Am Shauna Rae” revolves around the exploits of the Long Island local who insists she’s just like any other young millennial — save for the fact she looks like an 8-year-old.
Rae weighs just 50 pounds and stands at 3-foot-10 due to treatment she received for childhood brain cancer. The chemotherapy impacted her pituitary gland, leading to a dramatic stunt in her growth and causing pituitary dwarfism. Although she has been in full remission from cancer for years, the treatment left her with this unique condition. She started taking growth hormones at 8; however, treatment was stopped permanently when she reached puberty.
But what the blond lacks in height, she makes up for in personality — happy to show off for the cameras as she tackles everyday activities such as driving and dating. Rae told The Post that she’s constantly underestimated and excluded because of her appearance, but that hasn’t stopped her from going after what she wants. “If you look at me, you see an 8-year-old,” she said. “But I think if you take the time to look at the details in my face, in my hands, the maturity in my body — and I think if you take the time to actually talk to me — you really understand that I’m a 23-year-old.”
Rae recently made headlines after her burgeoning romance with travel blogger Dan Swygart, 26, raised eyebrows among viewers. Rae and Swygart were seen on dates during the second season of the TLC series, prompting some critics to call the male suitor “creepy” for lusting after a lady who looks like a young girl. However, Rae told The Post that she has the ability to suss out creeps after years of being a singleton — meaning she gave Swygart a green light. “I’ve just developed the ability to spot someone who may not have the best intentions because they give themselves away,” she said. “Their questions are very targeted toward my physicality … They’re learning about me like I’m a specimen in a lab.”
She also stated that prospective partners have often talked down to her as if she were a third-grader. “I view myself as intelligent, and I think when people first see me, they don’t see me as intelligent,” the star asserted. “They still don’t understand that I have that intelligence there.” “I tend to find guys that are just one-dimensional and don’t actually have any depth to the conversation. [A deeper connection] is what I’m looking for. I feel like: ‘If I can teach you something, you can teach me something’ — that’s what I look for in relationships.”
In the second season of “I Am Shauna Rae,” prospective boyfriend Swygart — who hails from the UK — even won the praise of Rae’s parents when he met them. The chivalrous gent also took to social media to defend their dates together earlier this week.
