00:00My son Gabriel was born as the smallest baby in the North London home birth team,
00:04which was crazy because obviously I'm four foot six.
00:08Shun, thank you for joining us. Obviously we last saw you in 2020 on Born Different,
00:13so just remind people why you were born different last time.
00:18I'm the smallest bodybuilder in the UK. My condition is called X-linked Sponny
00:22Lope Hyphysial Dysplasia Tata, which basically stunts the growth of your spine if you have it
00:28and can cause a bit of back issues, back pain. So I got diagnosed when I was in high school,
00:35I think I was about 12 or 13 and yeah, it didn't really hit me at the time. It sort
00:41of hit me
00:41later on in life when I realised I'm going to be a lot more different from everyone else and have
00:46different challenges and I have to learn how to navigate life differently. My height now is 138
00:52centimetres. I was four foot six. In the Other Born Different episode, you mentioned how
00:58you know, initially it affected your confidence. So could you just go into that a bit more?
01:03Yeah, so it affected my confidence in high school because I couldn't stand up for myself against
01:08other people who could see that I was vulnerable and would pick on me and bully me. So that was
01:12really
01:12challenging and in terms of like girls and like relationships, I didn't feel confident at first.
01:19I was like, oh, you know what? They're not going to want me because I'm shorter.
01:24I got into bodybuilding when I was 17 years old at college. Bodybuilding helped me because it made me
01:29change the way that I see myself, that I could control things, you know, that are not about my height.
01:35I can change a lot of things about my life, my confidence, my fitness, my nutrition, my mental
01:40health. And that was just a big turning point for me. And then obviously competing in bodybuilding
01:46and competing in other sports, Ninja Warrior UK, there were all like big obstacles in my life where
01:52I overcame those fears and those challenges. I could feel like change as a person, just being able to go
01:58and jump on stage and do this routine, you know, like almost naked, wearing those little bodybuilding
02:04chunks. It's just exhilarating and it was like always my dream. I know obviously you had those
02:08dreams, but did you ever imagine that you would actually achieve them all? No, I didn't imagine
02:13that I'd actually do it because there wasn't much opportunity for little people to compete instead
02:20of boxing and stuff. And the opportunities come about nowadays. So obviously we filmed with you last
02:26in 2020. What does life look like for you now? So I got into a long-term relationship,
02:33which unfortunately hasn't been that smooth towards the end of it, but we had a beautiful
02:41son together, which was amazing. My son's name is Gabriel and he is a little sweetheart. He's a
02:47very energetic baby. He was actually the tallest baby born in the North London home birth team,
02:52which was crazy because obviously I'm four foot six. Luckily he's got my eyes and nose,
02:56because I wouldn't think he was mine otherwise. He's like so tall and so handsome. But yeah,
03:00he's a beautiful, beautiful child. Oh, congratulations. That's so lovely. And so
03:06going back to your condition, is it hereditary at all? My condition is hereditary. But when we saw
03:11the genesis, he said that if I had a son, he wouldn't have my condition. But if I had a
03:16daughter,
03:17then she could be affected by it. And she'd carry the condition and pass it down to her kids.
03:21So I was always praying for a son. Right, that's so interesting. And your ex-partner,
03:26Gabriel's mum, I'm assuming, is she of average height? Yes. So Gabriel's mum is,
03:33I think, five foot seven. So she's quite a tall woman, maybe. And Gabriel, how old is he now?
03:40So Gabriel is nearly two. I think he must be like 10 or 12 kilos kilogrammes now. But he's very,
03:44very heavy for me to carry. So when I'm holding Gabriel, his head would be here, obviously,
03:49and then his legs will probably go down past my waist. And yeah, he'll be quite,
03:55quite firing to carry for a long, long period of time. And aside from being a dad to Gabriel,
04:02we discussed briefly before your new business that you set up to get people with dwarfism work. So
04:08yeah, tell me a bit about that. I've been performing and doing events and filming for quite a few years
04:13now. And I sort of partnered with some companies and founded my own sort of brand where people
04:20approached me to hire people with dwarfism. And we will hire them out for events, music videos,
04:27and like sort of productions for different companies.
04:32I set up my company, so people with dwarfism would have more opportunities
04:37to get paid really well. I had a lot of people who can't work full time because they're conditioned,
04:43because they get a lot of pain. So this paid really well, and they wouldn't be, you know,
04:48underpaid. One of the guys, he went and applied for a lot of jobs as a chef. But when he
04:55got there,
04:56and did the interview, he could see their sort of demeanor towards him changed. And because he had
05:00dwarfism, they rejected his applications, even though he had the qualifications and he was,
05:06everything was perfect on paper. So yeah, I think there is a, you know, quite some difficulties
05:10around people with dwarfism getting maybe nine to five, because they'd have to adjust things for
05:18them, or I think they wouldn't be suitable because of their height and their obstacles.
05:23Oh, that must feel so nice to be able to help people like that. It's a bodybuilding. I think you
05:28said you're not competing anymore. Is that right?
05:30Yeah, so I'm not competing in bodybuilding anymore. So I've started in boxing and
05:35other combat sports as well. So the boxing, kickboxing, MMA is all like against other people
05:40with dwarfism. And I think it's a really good opportunity because people with dwarfism should
05:45be allowed to compete in it and be taken seriously. It's taken off and it's got a big spotlight on
05:51it.
05:52That's great. And it must, again, it must just feel so good to sort of see things progressing and
05:58more equal opportunities. Yeah, yeah. I'd love to see it like the Paralympics as well. If they
06:03want to box and they love to do it, you know, then they can be stopped to do that. Yeah,
06:08absolutely.
06:11Yo! Yeah, what's up bro? Good man. So rounding things up, I suppose first of all,
06:18what do you hope to sort of teach your son Gabriel through your own journey and experiences that you've
06:24had so far?
06:25I want to teach Gabriel confidence, how to be confident in yourself, which I believe a big
06:30part of it is fitness. So being confident in your body and trying to push your body to
06:36what it's capable of. He can take, you know, what I've learned from my condition and my struggles and
06:42my challenges. He can use it for his own life. I teach him all of the experiences that I went
06:48through,
06:48like the hardships, like the good and bad. Just tell him everything because there's lessons from
06:53that that he can take and he doesn't have to go through it himself. That's so nice. You're going
06:58to be such a good role model for him and really inspiring with everything that you've achieved as
07:04well. Thank you. And what does the future look like for you? I want to do a bit more traveling
07:10and
07:11essentially more boxing fights. And then finally, what would you say to people with wolfism who might
07:18be struggling with their confidence? Just to find something that they can control. Find something
07:24that you're passionate about. So it could be, you know, if you can do rock climbing, if you can do
07:28bodybuilding, if you can do badminton, whatever it is, find something that you're passionate about,
07:33like physically because that, that is what I find gives you confidence.
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