Shauna Rae is a 25-year-old reality TV star who weighs approximately 50 pounds and stands 3ft 10 inches tall.
At the beginning of 2022, she shot to fame after starring in her own show, I Am Shauna Rae. It follows the story of her childhood illness and how its unexpected side effect was that she stopped growing.
In the show’s second season, aired on TLC, she shared her experiences of looking for love and independence.
When it comes to dating, Rae has acknowledged that many ‘creeps’ want to date her.
Rae’s plight has gained lots of attention online, with one fan writing: “It’s so sad because she deserves to be loved and experience relationships.”
Another adds: “She’s just a person like anyone else, I’m sure she just wants to be looked at that way.”
The 25-year-old was born with brain cancer and went through chemotherapy as a child. This impacted her pituitary gland, resulting in pituitary dwarfism.
Due to what she’s gone through, Rae is often compared to an eight-year-old rather than a woman.
In one episode of her show, she says: “People don’t understand that I’m an adult.”
In an interview with the New York Post, Rae said: “If you look at me, you see an eight-year-old.
“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 [an adult].”
Unfortunately, when it comes to brief encounters, people don’t take the time to do this and Rae will be treated like a child.
In a TikTok video, she shared that she’ll be given kids’ menus, cups, and crayons at restaurants.
She said (per People magazine): “I think it’s just the environment I’m around and the way I carry myself that sometimes affects it, but I also think if they see you in a family environment, they see a short-statured person, they just immediately think ‘child’ but it happens all the time.”
Rae’s past cancer treatment has also affected areas of her life.
Although she doesn’t presently want children, the 25-year-old has embarked on a fertility journey.
In a video on her YouTube channel, the TV personality revealed that she has a ‘very low egg count,’ although she had plans to freeze her eggs during season two of I Am Shauna Rae, she couldn’t proceed due to the high costs involved.
Rae said: “I wanted to go through with getting my eggs frozen to save a chance if I want to have children. I want the same opportunities as anyone else.
“But I learned that at that time… my insurance would not cover anything, and the medicine alone would be $9000 or something dollars, and it was a total that came to close to $15,000 to $20,000 and I did not have the funds at that point to go through with the procedure on my own.”
She continued: “I’ve been lately having a lot of thoughts about if I do want a family and if I do want a baby that looks like me, or if I want to go through adoption or whatever.
“You know, at the end of the day, I genuinely don’t care… a child, someone to raise, someone to grow with, in a sense, is all in the same for me.”
Now, Rae has launched a GoFundMe to help with her medical journey. Besides funding her eggs to be frozen, the TLC star is raising cash for dental implants.
The fundraiser page reads: “In order to have a chance at the same opportunity as others, I am asking those who are willing to, for help.
“I don’t have longer than six or so months until I potentially become infertile and as far as a timeline for my teeth, I’m holding onto them until I can’t. Anything at all can help towards a healthy future for myself.”
Amid her fertility journey, Rae revealed to fans that she is now in a relationship and it’s been something she’s kept ‘a secret’ for a while.
In an Instagram post, which hides her partner’s face, she said: “All you really need to know is they make me happy and I don’t know if I’d be as far in my goals without them.
“Please know that all I ask from y’all is to support me and refrain from being hateful toward them or my relationship.”
Before meeting her mysterious new partner, Rae opened up about the difficulties of starting a relationship.
When chatting with the New York Post, the 25-year-old shared that she’s met men who ‘may not have the best intentions.’
She explained: “I’ve just developed the ability to spot someone who may not have the best intentions because they give themselves away.
“Their questions are very targeted towards my physicality… They’re learning about me like I’m a specimen in a lab.”
You can donate to Shauna Rae’s GoFundMe here.