The Dad Who Stayed vs. the Dad Who Left: Shauna Rae’s Two Fathers — and the Name She Threw Away

In 2022, Shauna Rae walked into a courtroom and did something no camera was rolling for: she legally erased her father’s last name. Not the name of the man who raised her — the other one. The one who left when she was four years old.

Every fan of I Am Shauna Rae knows Mark — the bald, big-hearted stepdad on the couch. Almost nobody knows the other man. And the story of the two fathers who shaped Shauna’s life — one by staying, one by leaving — is the most emotional chapter she has never told on camera.

A young Shauna Rae — she was just 4 when her parents’ marriage ended. (via current-affairs.org)

The Father She Never Talks About

His name is Scott Lesick. According to reports from Distractify, he is Shauna’s biological father — a former U.S. Navy air-traffic controller who now works as a car salesman, married to Kimberlee Swidorsky-Lesick. He and Shauna’s mom Patty divorced when Shauna was just 4. They share two daughters: Shauna and her older sister Tara.

Here is what makes his absence so loud: he has never appeared on the show. Not once. According to Newsday, Shauna remains out of contact with him to this day. Two seasons of cameras followed every corner of her life — her dates, her fertility appointments, her family arguments — and her biological father was never in the frame.

What fans think they know about Scott is a patchwork of contradictions. Some reports describe his Facebook as full of proud-dad posts — including photos from Tara’s high school graduation — and fans speculate that means a door is still open somewhere. Other reports describe total estrangement. The honest truth: Shauna has never publicly explained the rift, and nobody else gets to do it for her.

The Man Who Showed Up

Then there is Mark Schrankel — the stepfather who became the father. After the divorce, Patty married Mark, and Mark raised Shauna and Tara as his own, alongside the couple’s two younger daughters, Rylee and Morgan. He didn’t have to. He did.

Viewers saw the proof every week: Mark in the confessional chair, Mark driving Shauna to dates that went nowhere, Mark vetting her suitors with a protective dad’s eye. When Shauna considered traveling abroad with Dan, Mark’s verdict was pure dad — he believed Dan would pull her out of her comfort zone while still keeping her safe. When the cameras caught him off guard, the message never changed: nobody gets past Mark without proving they deserve Shauna.

And when Shauna decided to legally drop the last name “Lesick” in 2022, Mark stood beside her. Think about what that moment meant: the man with no blood claim to her, standing next to her while she erased the name of the man who had one.

The Name Change That Said Everything

Fans read the name change as Shauna’s answer to the question nobody dared ask her directly: who is your real dad? She didn’t give a speech. She didn’t name names. She just walked into a courtroom and made it official — the Lesick era was over.

It was not revenge. People who have followed her for years say it read more like closure — a 23-year-old woman choosing, in the most legal and permanent way available, which family story gets to be hers. The name she kept was Rae. The family she claims is Schrankel.

Shauna Rae with her sisters on the show — Tara, her older sister, shares the same biological father. (TLC via PopCulture)

The Sister Caught in the Middle

There is one person this story hits differently: Tara, Shauna’s older sister. Same mother, same biological father — but a different relationship with both. Tara was older when the divorce happened. She remembers more. And according to reports, Scott has posted proudly about Tara’s milestones on social media — which has fans speculating endlessly about whether Tara kept a door open that Shauna closed.

Fans speculate, but the sisters have never turned it into a storyline. Whatever Tara’s private relationship with Scott looks like, she has never used it against her sister — and in a fandom that loves a family feud, that silence says a lot.

Why the Fandom Can’t Stop Arguing About This

This is where the group splits in two — and both sides have a point.

Team Mark says the debate is already settled: blood doesn’t make a father, showing up does. Mark showed up for the chemo aftermath, the growth-hormone years, the bullies, the bad dates, the courtroom. Case closed.

Team Second Chances says something harder to dismiss: every kid deserves to know their father, people change, and a closed door can always be reopened. They point to those proud-dad Facebook posts and ask — what if he’s been waiting to be forgiven?

Here’s the question nobody can answer for her: if Scott Lesick knocked on the door tomorrow, should Shauna open it? Is forgiveness owed to the man who left at 4 — or is the truest love story here the one about the stepdad who never had to stay, and did?

Drop your take below — and keep it kind. This one isn’t about TV. It’s about family.

Sources: Distractify, Tyla, UNILAD, Newsday (via prior reporting). Details about Scott Lesick are attributed to press reports; he has not commented publicly. Fan speculation is labeled as such.