Teddi Mellencamp Shares New Details on the "Darkest" Days of Her Cancer Battle
RHOBH alum Teddi Mellencamp talked in-depth about her "wild" health journey.
Teddi Mellencamp is sharing new insight into her cancer battle.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum, who was first diagnosed with melanoma in 2022, revealed that she had multiple brain tumors in February 2025.
After undergoing surgery to remove the larger tumors, Teddi learned that several of the smaller tumors could not be removed, and that her cancer had also spread to her lungs.
Amid her challenging health battle, Teddi returned to the podcast she co-hosts with Tamra Judge, Two Ts in a Pod, on March 13.
"I can say I've had some of my darkest, saddest days since the 12th, when this happened," the mom of three said in the opening moments of the podcast episode. "But, leading up to it, it's so wild what kind of transpired to kind of get us here."
How Teddi Mellencamp realized she had brain cancer
Teddi said that she had been experiencing severe headaches for quite a while.
"I was at a horse show, I remember going to my friend Nicole, 'I have the worst migraine I've ever had in my entire life..." she recalled. "We had just done a pod[cast] where I was kind of all over the place, and I remember not being able to remember how to say certain words. I was like, 'That's weird.'"
"That was kind of the start of it, and the next day I felt the same," Teddi continued.
Tamra said that she noticed a change in Teddi in the last six months, and that it seemed like she had "pulled away" and was on edge.
"I called you and I asked you [about it] and you literally weren't even aware," Tamra said.
"It all is very patchy in my memory at this point," Teddi admitted, before referencing a trip she took with Tamra to New Orleans for their podcast. "And then I remember being in such extreme pain before we left for New Orleans. Like, I could barely walk, I couldn't see. Every second that we weren't filming, I would have to lay in the bed... I didn't want to do anything. I was in excruciating pain in my head."
What led Teddi Mellencamp to get treatment
After returning from New Orleans, Tamra encouraged Teddi to go to the hospital. Her estranged husband, Edwin Arroyave, took her. Teddi explained why she was so hesitant to go to the doctor.
"I think because so much bad stuff was going on right then that I didn't want to face any of it, and I was like, 'I just need to keep moving forward, and if I keep moving forward, then everything's going to be fine,'" she said, referring to her separation from Edwin.
How did Tamra Judge react to Teddi Mellencamp's cancer news?
Once Teddi did a CT scan and learned that she had seven tumors, she reached out to Tamra. "You said to me, 'You all thought I was mental, but actually, I’m on my deathbed,'" Tamra said.
"I remember feeling like this is actually it," Teddi recounted.
Tamra shared the next text she sent to Teddi. "No, you’re not, because if you’re on yours, then I’m on mine because I can’t live without you," it read.
"The hardest part is that nobody wanted to tell me what was really happening because they were scared, and so I didn't know what was happening," Teddi said as she began to get emotional. "Like, I thought I was fine. I thought I could go home the next day, and once the tumors [were] out, I thought it would be done. I really didn't understand anything."
Teddi Mellencamp's support system includes her dad
As she recovered, Teddi got a lot of support from her friends, her dad (who was a "godsend"), and her siblings.
"I got to meet your dad," Tamra said about Teddi's father, John Cougar Mellencamp. "He was looking at me like, 'Who are you?'"
What cancer type does Teddi Mellencamp have?
The mom of three has been battling melanoma (aka skin cancer) since 2022. She said that her recent tumors are all metastases of her melanoma. About three weeks after her brain tumor surgery, Teddi shared a status update on her health.
"Update from my scans today: I have multiple tumors in my brain that weren’t able to be removed via surgery. I also have [two] tumors in my lung. These are all metastases of my melanoma," she wrote on Instagram.
She went on to say that she planned on treating the remaining tumors with "immunotherapy."
Teddi also said that she was "feeling positive" that she will "win this battle."
Find out the latest in Teddi and Edwin's separation.
