Featured Image Credit: TLC
Topics: Film and TV, Sex and Relationships, TLC
Rhiannon Ingle
A woman 'trapped in a kid's body' is still looking for love after her previous dating efforts sparked controversy.
Following the backlash over her most recent date, 23-year-old Shauna Rae has revealed she's still open to meeting a partner:
Shauna was diagnosed with brain cancer as a child.
Advert
After undergoing chemotherapy, Rae's growth development was severely stunted.
The treatment caused damage to her pituitary gland which led to her developing pituitary dwarfism.
Now, as an adult, Rae weighs just 50 pounds and stands at the average height of a young child - just 3ft 10in.
Following her story, the TLC show, I am Shauna Rae, journey's the 23-year-old's experiences with finding love.
Her most recent relationship with Welshman, Dan Swygart, 26, definitely caused some waves with the internet dubbing him a 'creep' for dating someone with a child-like appearance.
One YouTube user posted: "Yes, she is 23, but she looks and talks like an eight-year-old. She also does not act like a mature woman. She is childlike."
Swygart has since hit out at critics in an Instagram video where he defended his choice to open up a relationship with the 23-year-old.
He said: "Me and Shauna are still just really good friends getting to know each other, but I think it’s absolutely disgusting, the attitude of some people."
"How dare you take away her right, her human right, to have a connection, a friendship, a relationship with someone else? Who are you to say that she can’t have that?" the 26-year-old added.
The backlash was so intense that Dan's parents even got involved to defend their son.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, his mother revealed: "They are just friends. There is no relationship. They are friends."
Similarly, Dan's father also added: "He has appeared in their show and that's the extent of it.
"That's it, it's as simple as that."
In a recent episode of I am Shauna Rae, Shauna can be seen getting ready for a blind date with a brand-new match.
The 23-year-old revealed that she had 'never been' on a blind date and that she had 'a bunch of worries' going into one.
Her father and sister then drove Shauna to the location of her upcoming date.
During to drive, Shauna turns to her father and asks: "Do you want to give the guy another strike?"
Confused, her dad asked his daughter 'what happened'.
"He cancelled!" Shauna revealed.
Later on, Shauna explained that the prospective date 'got cold feet' and cancelled the date.
"I was relieved when he cancelled," the 23-year-old explained.
"It just kind of showed all of these characteristics I don't want in a person in my life," she added.
Turning the day around, the three all decided to 'make the best of a bad situation' and go bowling together.
Shauna said: "Even though it was supposed to be a date, I probably enjoyed it better this way with my family then I would with a complete stranger."
"I'm still open," she concluded.