Man defends dating 23-year-old woman who looks eight years old

A travel blogger has hit back at claims he is “creepy” for dating a 23-year-old woman who looks like an eight-year-old girl.

A travel blogger has hit back at claims he is “creepy” for dating a 23-year-old woman who looks like an eight-year-old girl.

As reported by the New York Post, Dan Swygart, 26, recently began romancing reality star Shauna Rae – whose growth was stunted due to treatment she received as a child for brain cancer. Rae – who is 3ft 10in, or 1.1m, tall – is the subject of the TLC reality series, I Am Shauna Rae.

Swygart recently shared several snaps with Rae on Instagram, before posting a video to the social media site vehemently defending their connection.

Dan Swygart, 26, recently began romancing 23-year-old Shauna Rae. Picture: Instagram

Rae's growth was stunted due to treatment she received as a child for brain cancer. Picture: Instagram

In his clip, Swygart revealed that he reached out to Rae with flowers after seeing the first season of her show. The pair soon met in person and went on several dates together.

“It’s very important to remember that Shauna is an incredible 23-year-old woman who has a disability,” he explained.

“So as you’re building a connection with her it’s important to acknowledge her disability and look past that and build it with who she is as an individual.

“She’s this incredible, inspiring 23-year-old woman who just happens to be a little bit short. And as soon as you say that she can’t have a real-world connection with someone else, you dehumanise her which is absolutely disgusting.

“She is a human being. She deserves to have relationships and connections with whomever she wants. And I think some people aren’t emotionally mature enough to understand that you can have a deep connection based on personality rather than just on looks.”

He said in a new video: “Me and Shauna are still just good friends, getting to know each other but I think it’s absolutely disgusting the attitude of some people.

“She’s been through so much in life. She survived cancer as a child, she’s always felt different and treated different by society, but how dare you take away her right, her human right to have a connection, a friendship, a relationship with someone else?

“Who are you to say that she can’t have that?

“I am absolutely disgusted by some people’s attitudes towards her and my friendship with her.

“I cannot believe some people who deny her the right to have a friendship or a connection with someone else. How dare you? How dare you?”

Swygart revealed that he reached out to Rae with flowers after seeing the first season of her show. Picture: Instagram

Last year, Rae spoke about how she’s constantly underestimated because she looks like a young girl. Picture: Instagram

Swygart – who hails from the UK – appears in the second season of I Am Shauna Rae, where he is seen forging a connection with the star.

But the Brit has been blasted by viewers, with someone saying he is “sick” for thinking of Rae as a legitimate love interest.

“Yes, she is 23, but she looks and talks like an eight-year-old. She also does not act like a mature woman. She is childlike,” one critic claimed, according to The Mirror.

“If any man or woman can honestly say that they can see her as a ‘sexual woman’, they are either lying or sick. PERIOD,” another allegedly stated, while a third described him as “creepy”.

Last year, Rae spoke with The Post about her reality show and how she’s constantly underestimated because she looks like a young girl.

“If you look at me, you see an eight-year-old girl,” she stated.

“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 a 23-year-old.”

Her romance with Swygart is currently up in the air, however, with the travel blogger recently returning to his home in the UK while Rae still lives in Long Island.

“I haven’t actually really thought about if Dan and I were in a relationship and how that would look,” she stated on the show.

“I assume that we would probably try long-distance, but I’ve been in a long distance relationship [before]. It’s not my cup of tea.”

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission