TLC star Shauna Rae has moved on from former love interest Dan Swygart as he laid bare the ‘huge amount of hate’ and ‘crushing’ relationship criticism.
The 23-year-old, from Pennsylvania, is 3ft 10in tall and weighs just 50 pounds after her growth was stunted following brain cancer treatment as a child.
Shauna has previously been candid about the unique dating struggles she has faced as a result of her condition with her most recent relationship with Swygart, 27, causing widespread uproar.
He appeared on the latest episode of The Sarah Fraser Show podcast to open up about the intense criticism before revealing that the former pairing, who had never been physically intimate, are now just good friends.
TLC star Shauna Rae has moved on from former love interest Dan Swygart as he laid bare the ‘huge amount of hate’ and ‘crushing’ relationship criticism
The 23-year-old, from Pennsylvania, is 3ft 10in tall and weighs just 50 pounds after her growth was stunted following brain cancer treatment as a child
Speaking on the podcast, Dan said: ‘We got very, very close on an emotional level. It never really got physical, we kissed once.
‘Of course, I wasn’t there for long periods of time… so it never really progressed into a relationship.’
Dan, from Wales, revealed that critics accused him of being inappropriately attracted to Shauna who has smaller stature than an average adult due to pituitary dwarfism.
He continued: ‘[There was] this big, huge amount of hate, and I felt like the world was crushing me because obviously the media and people, YouTubers as well, they categorized me in the most hated group of people on the planet.
‘Obviously, because of Shauna’s condition they put me in that category. I just felt like that world was crushing me.’
The entrepreneur, who was branded a creep, admitted that the intense scrutiny dragged him to the lowest point he had ever been and caused him to ‘lose faith’ in humanity.
But he said that he was thankful for the support he did receive after publicly denouncing those who said Shauna was undeserving of finding love.
Dan went on to reveal Shauna will always have a special place in his heart but that the pair are now just ‘very, very good friends’ as they both continue to learn and grow emotionally.
Dan, 27, opened up about the widespread criticism before revealing that the former pairing, who had never been physically intimate, had decided to go their separate ways
Elsewhere, Shauna also addressed why referring to her as a ‘woman trapped in an eight-year-old’s body’ was inaccurate
It comes after Shauna recently explained the importance of raising awareness for pituitary dwarfism.
She wrote: ‘This is something that happens to me very often, and use to be an every time I went out occurrence.
‘I’m hoping that by raising awareness for my type of dwarfism and disability, that it will help the world and us as humans be more open minded when it comes to the variety of people we have in our world.’
Elsewhere, Shauna also addressed why referring to her as a ‘woman trapped in an eight-year-old’s body’ was inaccurate.
She said: ‘I know that “the woman stuck in the body of an eight-year-old” is the catchphrase that’s attached to me but I don’t personally connect with it.
‘I think it’s actually very inaccurate. I am not stuck in the body of an eight-year-old.
‘I am a 23-year-old woman whose body is 23 years old, it’s matured, it’s gone through puberty. I’ve grown in areas that eight-year-olds don’t until they hit puberty which is later in life.’
Shauna concluded: ‘Therefore I’m not in the body of an eight-year-old. I am just a shorter statured woman… My body is my body, it’s a 23-year-old body and it works like every other 23-year-old.’
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