A man who was rumored to be dating Shauna Rae has opened up about being called a "p*do" by a handful of people on the internet.
Shauna Rae Lesick - star of TLC's hit show I Am Shauna Rae - is 3 feet 10 inches tall and weighs 50 pounds at 24 years of age after undergoing treatment for brain cancer as an infant which subsequently affected her pituitary gland, resulting in her developing pituitary dwarfism.
Due to her condition, Shauna has been open about how finding love can be tricky, worrying that she will attract the wrong type of attention from men.
But last year, she allegedly started bonding with a British man called Dan Swygart who reached out to the star after seeing the show.
The pair started chatting and eventually even started meeting up. On one occasion, they even went on a "water date" and posted photos of themselves on social media.
While the the pair didn't confirm their relationship at the time, Swygart was heavily criticized for his interest in the reality TV star.
Even when it was confirmed that the pair were merely friends and had a platonic relationship, the barrage of hate slamming calling him a "creep" did not stop.
Now, months after the fiasco, the 28-year-old has finally spoken out about the ups and down that came with dating someone unique in the public eye.
When questioned on a podcast about what happened during that period, he said: "Literally all my social media feed I was just seeing my face everywhere - like me and Shauna's face everywhere."
He continued: "The entire world is like 'This guy's a p*do.' And I'm sitting there like 'No, I'm not."
He then went on to state that during the "dark" time when he was forced to speak out and address all the rumors, a message that Shauna said to him stuck with him.
"[She told me] Any PR is good PR as long as you handle it the right way," he said during the interview. "Which I felt like I had to do and I wanted to do because it was kind of like a f*** you to the media."
He added that while he had a lot on the line, like his business and potential future relationships, he had to continue to plough through all the hate and come out stronger on the other side.
"It sort of just came out and I stood my ground and I felt like I was in a battle," he said. "[The video] changed the whole tide of everything because I... basically put a mirror to the media and showed them what they were doing."
He concluded the video saying that even though there are still some people wondering how he could possibly like someone like Shauna, he's over it and constantly looking into the future.
Have a look at the full video below:So what does the future hold for the 28-year-old?
Apparently, another reality TV show.
Swygart will be taking part in the United Kingdom's version of the reality TV program, Love Triangle, which sees six singles choose between two partners based solely on text exchanges, then meet their match before moving in together to potentially fast-track their relationship.
That should be fun, right?
