Teddi Mellencamp’s doctors discovered she has four more brain tumors during an emergency MRI.
“I’m fighting for my life,” the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” alum, 43, told Us Weekly in an interview published Wednesday, “but also for my family’s life and all the people I love.”
Mellencamp shares three kids with her estranged husband, Edwin Arroyave: daughters Slate, 12, and Dove, 5, and son Cruz, 10. She is also a stepmom to Arroyave’s daughter Isabella, 16.
As she continues her fight against her diagnosis, the former Bravolebrity said she has stopped using her famed “moms always come back” catchphrase with her family.
“I have not said that line to them since I’ve been back [from the hospital],” she shared. “They all know that I’m fighting the hardest I possibly can, but I haven’t said [it] because I don’t want to lie to them. And I don’t know.”
Despite her declining energy levels due to radiation and immunotherapy treatments, Mellencamp has maintained a sense of humor about her cancer and ongoing divorce.
“I thought I was going to feel like how I felt after my neck lift,” she said with a laugh while reflecting on her symptoms from treatment. “My reaction is always a headache, and I found out that’s good news because it means that the immunotherapy or the radiation is killing your cancer.”
The reality star described herself as “lucky” while recalling the sweet moment her son made her feel better about the pixie haircut she got due to her tumor surgeries.
“Ugh, I’m so over it already,” she said of her short hair. “But Cruz made it a little better because he said, ‘Mom, we can get all the same haircuts.’”
Mellencamp said she is “listening to [her] body,” “staying active” and continuing to do things she loves.
“When I do too much laying [around], I get pretty sad,” she said. “On the days I’m feeling low, I can get really emotional, and if I’m open with the people in my life, then I have an easier time resting. When I try to pretend I’m OK and resting, it’s hard for me.”
The daughter of singer-songwriter John Mellencamp revealed in February that she had undergone surgery to have four brain tumors removed. They went undetected for at least six months before she started experiencing migraines and discovered the growths.
The following month, she shared that doctors found five more tumors in her body — three in her brain and two in her lungs.
Teddi told Us Weekly that cancer is “definitely the hardest thing” she has ever had to face in her life.
“But now it feels less hard,” she shared. “When I was in the ICU, it was incredibly difficult because I had no memory. One day, I realized it was my daughter’s birthday, and I couldn’t be there for it; it was really sad. It’s still sad when I can’t be there for my kids the way I’d normally be.”
The “Two Ts in a Pod” co-host has been coping with her battle by joking about the disease instead of being in denial.
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“Everybody wants me to be super positive all the time. One of my coping mechanisms is being sarcastic,” she said. “I’d rather joke about it and have the best possible outcome than be completely in denial and have my heart broken.”
As for her divorce from Arroyave, the duo have paused the case so the entrepreneur can help take care of his estranged wife.
“I’m really lucky that Edwin, who I was in the middle of a divorce from, we put everything on hold,” she said. “[It] wasn’t really the time to be fighting over emails. He’s been extremely kind and helping with the kids. That’s made things a lot easier.”
The pair are currently living together, though they sleep in separate bedrooms.
“I’m in the primary, and he’s in one of the guest rooms,” she said. “It’s fun. It’s all the things that I loved about our marriage but without all the problems.”
Teddi, who filed to divorce Arroyave in November 2024, has had a downhill battle with her health since she was diagnosed with stage 2 melanoma in October 2022.
