Reality TV star Shauna Rae shared a message to people describing her as a woman ‘stuck in 8-year-old’s body’ after having the ‘catchphrase’ attached to her.
Known through her TV series I Am Shauna Rae, 25-year-old Shauna has amassed thousands of fans who are keen to know more about her life after she survived a rare form of brain cancer as a child.
Shauna developed pituitary dwarfism as a result of damage sustained from the chemotherapy she went through as part of her treatment, and descriptions of her TV show explain how she ‘now navigates life in the body of an 8-year-old’.
The description prompted news outlets, including UNILAD, to previously describe Shauna in this manner, but the reality TV star has since explained why this ‘catchphrase’ is inaccurate.
Her response to the phrase came as Shauna answered a fan question on her TikTok account, which asked: “Since your [sic] stuck in a eight year old body does it make you wonder what it’s gonna be like when you get old in the future?”
Before she actually began answering this question, Shauna, who was 23 at the time she shared the video, explained she wanted to address the way her condition was described and ‘correct’ the TikTok user’s ‘wording’.
Shauna explained why the wording was ‘inaccurate’ (TikTok/@shaunarae99)
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, like I’ve grown in areas that eight year olds don’t until they hit puberty which is later in life, so therefore I’m not in the body of an eight-year-old, I am just a shorter statured woman.”
Shauna made clear that her body is that of an adult (TikTok/@shaunarae99)
Shauna went on to point out that while her body, at 3ft 10in tall, is ‘at the average height of an eight-year-old’, that ‘doesn’t mean [her] body is stuck in an eight-year-old body’.
“My body is my body, it’s a 23-year-old body and it works just like every other 23-year-old body,” she says.
Shauna later shared the clip to Instagram, where she added: “Definitely going to get some more out there but I think this one is super important because it gives y’all insight on to how I actually view myself no matter what verbiage that’s attached with pituitary dwarfism.
“I do believe that if you genuinely take the time you’ll notice that I’m no different just short.”