Watch: Teddi Mellencamp Shares Emotional Response to Fan Who Says Her Cancer Is Terminal
Teddi Mellencamp’s loved ones are thinking about her future.
The 43-year-old—who has faced her increasingly fraught cancer journey with dry wit and dark humor—recounted a recent conversation with her father John Mellencamp in which she shared he’s thinking about her burial.
“Yesterday my dad calls 11 times in a row,” Teddi told friend and cohost Tamra Judge during the April 9 episode of their Two Ts in a Pod podcast. “Finally, I answer, I’m like, ‘I’m in the bath. Let me live a little. Like let me enjoy.’ He goes, ‘I just want to make sure you’re going to be in our group family mausoleum.’”
In response, the Real Housewives of Beverly Hils alum—who shares kids Slate, 12, Cruz, 10, and Dove, 5, with ex-husband Edwin Arroyave—asked him whether there would be room for her kids.
“He’s like, ‘Well there’s gonna be the top five, and then we’re gonna have little areas around it and then that’s where everyone’s gonna get buried,’” she said, noting she asked her dad when she’d need to decide. “He goes, ‘Well you’re doing your will right now, so you may as well put it in there.’”
Teddi reflected on the interaction with levity, even dryly quipping, when Tamra asked if the mausoleum was in John’s native Indiana, “Yes, you’re gonna have to visit my grave there.”
She then made a joke about “making demands,” including one about a possible epitaph inspired by a recent encounter.
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“Somebody said a quote to me the other day that seriously made me laugh so hard, I cried,” she said. “So the person I barely know, they’re like, ‘Oh, I’ve heard about you know, lots of people have heard about what happened.’ And he goes, ‘You want to know the good news? Hot girls never die.’”
She continued, “I was like, that’s going on my tombstone.”
Teddi’s story about her future comes amid a harrowing time in her health journey, after announcing her cancer has progressed to Stage 4. She was previously being diagnosed with brain tumors in February that had spread to her lungs.
But amid the scary development, the podcaster expressed her gratitude for the support she’s received.
Instagram/Teddi Mellencamp
“I woke up to so many kind messages,” Teddi shared in an April 2 Instagram Stories video. “I just want to say thank you guys so much. So many messages about how strong I am. And I gotta tell you, some days I feel really, really strong and some days I feel really, really sad and alone. And I think that’s a normal part of what any of us are going through, and that’s okay. Stage 4 cancer can be scary.”
And while acknowledging the treatment and ongoing battle was both mentally and physically taxing, she affirmed, “I’m just thinking about all the goals that I have for the future for myself and for my kids.”
For more celebrities who have shared their experiences with cancer with the world, keep reading.
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