TLC’s reality TV show I Am Shauna Rae gives viewers a look at the unique life of Shauna Rae, a 23-year-old woman from Ross Township, Pa. She developed a growth hormone deficiency after receiving chemotherapy for a brain tumor when she was just 6 months old.
As a result of the treatment, Shauna’s body stopped growing, and she is now 3 feet and 10 inches tall. People often say she looks like an 8-year-old. After watching her on TLC, many fans have become curious about Shauna’s net worth. Here’s what you need to know.
Her small size was caused by cancer
In the first episode of I Am Shauna Rae, Shauna Rae explains her medical condition and how she has been managing it. Her health issues began when she was just six months old. At that age, Rae’s parents noticed a tumor on the back of her head.
Worried about the potential risks, they spoke to doctors, and Rae was diagnosed with brain cancer. She underwent over two years of chemotherapy before she was declared cancer-free.
A few years later, Rae’s family saw that she was much smaller than other children her age, which raised their concerns again. Doctors then diagnosed her with a very underactive pituitary gland, meaning her body was not producing enough growth hormones.
She was given extra growth hormone treatments, but by the time she turned 16, doctors told her that she would not grow any taller. Her official diagnosis is pituitary dwarfism.
Rae shared with People that hearing she would stop growing during her teenage years had a major impact on her mental health. “It probably was the lowest time of my life, because I always imagined that I would be tall. And getting that news, it just kind of was like a hammer crashing into glass,” Rae said.
She is close with her family
Shauna Rae has a warm and mostly supportive relationship with her family, but that doesn’t mean everything is without its challenges.
Her mother and stepfather are loving, but Rae feels they can be overprotective. They sometimes have a hard time accepting that Rae is no longer a child and that she wants to make her own choices. Despite this, Rae appreciates the love and support they have given her as she works to adjust to adult life.
Of all her siblings, Rae is closest to her younger sister, Rylee. “She’s like my best friend. She is my support system,” Rae said on her show. The two spend most of their time together since they both live in their parents’ house on Long Island.
Rae also has an older sister, Tara, whom she cares about, but their relationship is more complicated. Rae describes Tara carefully in the first episode.
“She’s lovely,” she says, adding, “She’s very independent. She’s just stubborn, and she’s very opinionated, and her opinions are strong.”
Their parents think Rae might feel jealous of Tara because Tara leads a more typical life without medical issues, but Rae denies this and explains that she doesn’t want to live Tara’s life. Despite their differences and some typical sister arguments, they get along fairly well.
She wants to use her show to raise awareness for people with disabilities
Shauna Rae’s viewers have been mostly accepting, and she is happy that sharing her story helped her connect with people she might not have met otherwise.
In an interview with Hollywood Life, Rae was asked about the feedback she has received from fans. She replied, “I’m actually really grateful to TLC because of this.
I didn’t know anyone with my form of dwarfism. I didn’t even know another cancer survivor besides immediate family … Because the show came out, people have reached out … I found other people who struggle just on an emotional level that I’ve met with, and it’s actually been a really positive experience.”
Rae has spoken openly about the challenges people with disabilities face, and she wants to use her platform to support those who are overlooked because of conditions they can’t control. She recently posted a video on TikTok where she explained her goals.
She said, “I’m hoping with the ‘I Am Shauna Rae’ show and anything else via social media that I can bring awareness to this because I am not the only person with pituitary dwarfism. I am not the only human being out there that feels like they didn’t have many people like them feeling similar, so I think it can help a lot of people.”
Money has never been mentioned as one of Rae’s reasons for joining TLC, but her earnings from the show are significant. According to Distractify, Rae is said to earn between $10,000 and $15,000 per episode of I Am Shauna Rae. The article also mentions that her net worth is around $100,000 – $200,000.
While more than $10,000 per episode would be tempting for most people to share their lives on TV, Rae admitted in an interview on The Tamron Hall Show that she decided to do the series for the purpose of representation and to raise awareness about disabled people in the media.
Rae told Hall, “I wanted to do the show because growing up, I didn’t see anyone like me … I want to show anyone who feels different or feels like they were put in a category, to show them that they can bust out of that category despite what anyone thinks.
And no matter what, there’s always going to be someone out there that is supportive of you and wants you to do the best.”
Her dating life is complicated
Dating in your mid-twenties is hard enough for people without disabilities, but Shauna Rae says that dating with her medical condition makes things even more challenging. In the first episode of I Am Shauna Rae, she talks about her struggles by saying, “I attract creeps, a-holes, and idiots.”
Even though romantic relationships have been difficult for Rae, she has developed a very mature view on the matter. She told an interviewer from Hollywood Life, “When it comes to dating, my perception is it’ll happen when it happens.
I am very focused on me and getting my life together You kind of should be your own individual person first. So I’m really working on that and if someone comes along, I won’t pass them up.”
Rae was briefly romantically involved with British-Welsh travel blogger Dan Swygart, but they never made it official, and they both agreed to stay friends. They had a good emotional connection, and Swygart even appeared in a few episodes of the show.
However, some fans who couldn’t understand why Swygart was attracted to Rae because of her youthful appearance criticized him. He defended their relationship on Instagram, saying, “How dare you take away her right, her human right, to have a connection, a friendship, a relationship with someone else?” Despite the criticism, Rae and Swygart are still very good friends.
She wants to be independent
The idea of independence, and Shauna Rae’s ability (or inability) to achieve it, is a common theme in I Am Shauna Rae, especially when she talks about her relationship with her mother and stepfather. Rae understands that her parents’ concern comes from love and worry for her safety, but the conflict between them is a constant source of stress throughout the show.
Rae is a free spirit, but it’s hard for her to be independent because of both her appearance and financial struggles. As mentioned before, Rae makes thousands of dollars per episode of the show, but it’s still not enough for her to cover all the costs that would come with living on her own.
When it comes to finances and career choices, she often thinks about her options but finds it difficult to commit to one because of her medical condition. Rae has thought about moving to New York City to attend the Fashion Institute of Technology, but she confessed in an interview with People, “The city is just a place right now that causes me huge anxiety … when you’re in a place that’s going to point out your difference every day, maybe multiple times a day, it’s just hard to put yourself in that kind of mindset.”
[Updated: 04/01/2025]
