"Shuka is convinced by Janaka to follow the ashrama tradition, and returns home to marry and follow the path of yoga. He has five children with his wife Pivari—four sons and a daughter." -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devi-Bhagavata_Purana
For me Vyasa, Shuka, and Suta (Sutradhara) denote very different things. They are part of the story telling tradition. Vyasa being the knower (also the expander) of the story, Shuka being the narrator and Suta being the coordinator of the performance in a Jatra/Pandavani/Kathakali/Padh fashion. Later these positions were imagined as Sages. Of course, you will differ.
Jada-Bharata story in Srimad Bhagawatham is created to explain a philosophical position in Hinduism. I quote:
"When a second time this chastisement happens, Jadabharata, for the first time in his life, opens his mouth.
This portion in the Bhagavatam, going through four chapters, is one of the most treasured pieces in the whole work.
My dear King, says Jada-bharata, whatever you have spoken sarcastically is certainly true. Actually these are not simply words of chastisement, for the body is the carrier. The load carried by the body does not belong to me. There is no contradiction in your statements because I am different from the body. I am not the carrier of the palanquin; the body is the carrier. Certainly, as you have hinted, I have not labored carrying the palanquin, for I am detached from the body. Your words about my stoutness or otherwise are befitting a person who does not know the distinction between the body and the soul. The body may be fat or thin, but no learned man would say such things of the Atman. As far as the Atman is concerned, I am neither fat nor skinny; therefore you are correct when you say that I am not very stout. Also, if the object of this journey and the path leading there were mine, there would be many troubles for me, but because they relate not to me but to my body, there is no trouble at all. .."
Story of Jada Bharata, from Bhagavatam
I take it to be a beautiful story. Many people take it as a fact of history.