Featured Image Credit: thereal_shaunarae99 / Instagram
Topics: Celebrity, Health, Podcast, Sex and Relationships, TV and Film, Australia
Mia Williams
Topics: Celebrity, Health, Podcast, Sex and Relationships, TV and Film, Australia
A 26-year-old described her world 'being shattered' when she found out she the long lasting effects of her condition.
Shauna Rae is 3ft 10 inches, and has been that height since she was 16-years-old.
She is just slightly shorter than the average American eight-year-old, and faces many difficulties in life as a result of her condition.
The I Am Shauna Rae star has previously revealed that her world felt completely 'shattered' when doctors told her she would remain this height forever.
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But Shauna wasn't born this way.
Her condition is actually as a result of a medical error.
When Shauna was a baby, her mum realised there was a large lump in her head.
After investigations, doctors quickly found that she had been suffering from brain cancer, and during treatment, her pituitary gland was damaged.
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The pituitary gland is responsible for releasing hormones, including the growth hormone.
And as Shauna's was damaged, her growth was stunted at a young age.
Speaking to TLC Australia, she said: "My bones were fused at 16.
"So I didn't have this realisation that I wasn't going to be normal until I was 16.
"That moment was almost like the world shattered."
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The 26-year-old recently opened up about what it is like to date with pituitary dwarfism.
Speaking on the Unplanned Podcast with hosts Matt and Abby Howard, she said: "A big conversation that comes up with me is grooming and predatory behaviour.
"Pedophiles are also a big topic with me, especially now I'm dating."
She explained why the subject is so nuanced, and noted that her parents warned her of the dangers when she was growing up.
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Shauna said: "It's very easy to be prey in this world as a tiny little girl.
"My parents were like, 'look, any guy that's interested in you, you have to read into them'.
"Because there's a chance it could be about your size.'"
But Shauna is currently in a relationship, and chooses to keep the identity of her partner private from the world.
Explaining her reasoning for this, she said: "With everything that social media is and everything I know my boyfriend isn’t, I just don’t want him to be labelled something and him not be my partner forever.
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"At this point, unless I’m marrying him, or spending my rest of my life with him, his face isn’t going to be shown."