Teddi Mellencamp is assuaging concerns over her Stage 4 cancer battle. The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum clarified her condition earlier this week, after her father, John Cougar Mellencamp, made some alarming comments about her health.
“I have a daughter who is really sick,” John said during an appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience. “It’s not f—ing fun. She’s got cancer in the brain, and she’s suffering right now.”
John’s description immediately made headlines, as it led some to believe that Teddi’s cancer journey had taken an unfortunate turn. Teddi addressed her father’s word choice during a recent episode of Two Ts in a Pod — her long-running podcast series with The Real Housewives of Orange County‘s Tamra Judge.
Teddi Mellencamp sets the record straight on her health
“[John] really caused a stir because everybody thought, ‘Oh my god! What is going on with you?’” Tamra said in the January 27 broadcast. “Instantly, people thought, ‘Oh my god, the cancer’s back.’”
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Teddi understood how her dad’s comments might have given people the wrong impression about her cancer journey.
“You know, I think when he said the word ‘suffering,’ he meant like how I’m mentally doing versus how I’m physically doing,” Teddi theorized. “There’s still no trace of cancer. But I’m still considered Stage 4, and I’m still in immunotherapy. So, essentially, nothing’s changed other than I still don’t feel great. I would hope that I would be feeling better by now, but I really don’t.”
Teddi Mellencamp opens up about her immunotherapy experience
Teddi went on to say that her immunotherapy has taken a heavy toll on her, as it has hampered her energy and mobility.
“I can see that I’m slower than I was before, and that’s really frustrating to me,” she said. “I want to be back to the way I used to be… The immunotherapy part is just why I feel kind of exhausted.”
Inside Teddi Mellencamp’s years-long cancer battle
Teddi’s health issues came to light in 2022, after her good friend/former castmate Kyle Richards noticed discoloration on Teddi’s back.
“[Kyle] immediately took me to the doc[tor] who, within minutes, said it looks like melanoma and did a big removal,” Teddi revealed in a 2022 Instagram.
Since then, Teddi has endured a heartbreaking cycle of surgeries and cancer treatments, as her melanoma kept returning without explanation.
In February 2025, Teddi sought medical attention for a chronic headache. It was at that time she learned that her melanoma had metastasized, resulting in multiple tumors on her brain and lungs. The mother of three went on to have emergency surgeries and began immunotherapy.
Although difficult, the treatments proved to be successful, as Teddi’s cancer became “undetectable” in the fall of 2025. But she wasn’t in the clear quite yet. Teddi told fans she still had another year of immunotherapy.
Teddi Mellencamp reveals her biggest fear amid her cancer journey
“It takes a toll on my body,” she said on Two Ts in a Pod. “I think that I also didn’t properly process all of the things that happened when I had surgery, like from my divorce [from Edwin Arroyave] to all of a sudden being in emergency surgery to, you know, not being able to see my kids when I was recovering. I think all of those things are starting to finally hit me now. I started doing therapy, and so it’s taken its toll on me.
“I was really fighting for my life,” she continued. “Now that the storm has calmed a little bit, now I’m processing. And now I’m starting to develop fear, where I didn’t have fear before. I have fear to do a lot of things.”
RELATED: Teddi Mellencamp Shares a Look Into Her Relationship With Stepdaughter, Bella Arroyave
Tamra then asked Teddi what she considered to be her “biggest fear.”
“The cancer is going to come back,” Teddi said. “ Every day is a new day, but we don’t wanna be Debbie Downers.”
Learn more about Teddi’s health journey and the support she’s received from her fellow Bravolebs.
