A businessman branded a “creep” for dating pint-sized reality star Shauna Rae has made a shocking sex confession while speaking out about their short-lived romance on a new podcast.
Dan Swygart, 27, recently appeared on the second season of the TLC reality series “I Am Shauna Rae,” which documents the life of the bubbly blond whose growth was stunted due to cancer treatment she received as a child.
Rae is 23, but she’s often mistaken for being an 8-year-old girl as she weighs 50 pounds and stands at 3 feet 10 inches tall.
While some viewers swooned over Rae’s romance with Swygart, others slammed him as “sick” for dating a woman who looked like she could be a minor.
However, speaking on The Sarah Fraser Show on Monday, Swygart said he never actually had sex with Rae.
“We got very, very close on an emotional level,” he revealed on the podcast. “It never really got physical, we kissed once. “
The UK-based entrepreneur said his short-lived courtship of Rae, who lives on Long Island, began when he saw a video of her online and was immediately enamored by the “mental strength” she displayed in spite of her difficult circumstances.
Swygart subsequently decided to send her flowers and a note, before Rae wrote to him on Instagram to say “thank you.”
The pair began messaging back and forth for several months before the businessman jetted to the US for their first face-to-face meeting.
“We had really deep conversations about life,” he stated on the podcast, adding that he was impressed by how “ambitious” Rae was.
After that meeting, the pair continued to talk online before Swygart eventually agreed to appear on “I Am Shauna Rae.”
“We were getting to know each other for 8 months before I appeared on the show,” he revealed, saying they went on several recorded dates together.
But despite their clear chemistry, the Brit insists they did not consummate their budding romance.
Soon after, the pair decided they would be better off as friends, given that Swygart constantly travels for work and does not have a US visa.
“My lifestyle is very different to hers,” he declared. “Right now, we’re still very very good friends.”
“There’ll always be a place in our hearts for each other,” he further cooed. “We’ll always have an amazing connection and friendship.”
Meanwhile, Swygart said he struggled with some of the negative comments he received after appearing on “I Am Shauna Rae” last year.
Hundreds of viewers took to social media to say they were disturbed by the dates between Swygart and Rae.
“Yes, she is 23, but she looks and talks like an 8-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.”
Speaking on the podcast, Swygart said he “felt like the world was crushing me.”
“That’s the lowest I’ve ever been in my life,” he further declared.
However, Swygart said he was eventually heartened by thousands of people who came out in support of him.
And while the hunky Brit is still single, he admits “quite a lot” of women have been sliding into his DMs since his small-screen appearance.