Teddi Mellencamp, the daughter of John Mellencamp, said her father has already started planning her burial as she battles stage 4 cancer.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star shared that the rocker called her multiple times to have the difficult conversation.
"Yesterday my dad calls 11 times in a row. Finally, I answer, I'm like, 'I'm in the bath. Let me live a little.' He goes, 'I just want to make sure you're going to be in our group family mausoleum,'" Teddi recalled on her Two T's In A Pod podcast.
Highlights
- Teddi Mellencamp’s father, John Mellencamp, called her to ask if she wanted to be buried in the family mausoleum.
- The reality star was diagnosed with skin cancer in 2022, which progressed to stage 4 earlier this year.
- The melanoma has spread to her brain and lungs, and Teddi says she’s “fighting for [her] life.”
The 43-year-old then asked whether there would also be space in the future for her three children: 12-year-old Slate, 10-year-old Cruz, and 5-year-old Dove, whom she shares with ex Edwin Arroyave.
Image credits: teddimellencamp
"[My father's] like, 'Well, there's going to be the top five and then we're gonna have little areas around it, and then that's where everyone's going to get buried,'" she explained.
"He goes, 'You're doing your will right now, so you may as well put it in there.'"
Teddi agreed to be in the family mausoleum, explaining to listeners that she would travel to Indiana to visit the burial site.
She also joked that she would have "hot girls never d*e" engraved on the tombstone.
Teddi was diagnosed with skin cancer in 2022.
Image credits: Bravo / Getty
The mom of three shared in February that she was rushed into surgery after doctors discovered "multiple tumors" that "had been growing for at least six months."
"I have 3 more tumors in my brain and 2 tumors in my lungs. These are all metastases of my melanoma," she wrote on Instagram.
"I am feeling positive— that I will win this battle, that I got this wig (I like the short hair, just not the bald spots), and that I can remember all of Angelina's kids' names."
Melanoma is a kind of skin cancer that starts in the melanocytes, the cells that make the pigment (melanin) that gives skin its color. It is the most invasive skin cancer and can spread to other areas of the body.
Teddi was diagnosed with melanoma, an invasive kind of skin cancer, in 2022
Image credits: teddimellencamp
Teddi went to the doctor earlier this year after experiencing migraines and extreme pain.
"I was having migraines, and taking medication didn't help. I was shaking and feeling crazy. Then one day, I was like, 'Something is really wrong.' I couldn't see," she told Us Weekly.
"Edwin took me to the emergency room in Tarzana; the pain had become something I'd never felt before. They diagnosed me with multiple brain tumors. They all came from melanoma that metastasized into these tumors inside of my body."
Teddi revealed she is battling stage 4 cancer. "I'm fighting for my life, but also for my family's life and all the people I love," she told the outlet.
Image credits: Icon Sportswire / Getty
The podcaster said one of her coping mechanisms to face the idea of her mortality is sarcasm.
"I'd rather joke about it and have the best possible outcome than be completely in denial and have my heart broken."
She also tries to stay positive by planning things she looks forward to. "A lot of people — not doctors, strangers on the internet — said [I] shouldn't be riding, but it's one of the things I love doing with my daughter."
Teddi clarified that the conversation was "light-hearted" and she's "having to deal with things [she] wouldn't otherwise"
Image credits: teddimellencamp
Image credits: teddimellencamp
Teddi said she "didn't care much" about shaving her head, though her perspective on how she looks changes daily.
"There are some days [where] I think you're allowed to say, 'I don't feel confident right now, I feel very uncomfortable and I want to wear a wig.' And there are some days that I'm like, 'It is what it is.'
"Some days, I'm really sad and really scared, and some days, I'm like, 'I got this; I'm not worried.'"
She recently revealed she has stage 4 cancer, with multiple tumors in her brain and lungs that are metastases of the melanoma
Image credits: teddimellencamp
She said her young children know she's "fighting the hardest [she] possibly can" and she was honest about her cancer diagnosis with them.
Edwin mentioned they didn't want to "sugarcoat" the news. "I was upfront with them with what was going on," he explained, adding that the children "were concerned and scared" for their mother.
"I was like, 'There's some tumors that your mom has in her brain,'" he described. "I said, 'It sounds worse than what it is, but this is what I think is, this is what we think is going to happen. This is sort of how we're going to deal with it, and this is why I'm confident that she's going to make it through.'"
Image credits: teddimellencamp
In a recent video, the former reality star shared the words of support she received from her son, Cruz.
"Sometimes kids say things that really put things into perspective," she said.
"Yesterday Cruz said, 'Why are you worried about that? [referring to the scar on the side of her head from her recent brain surgery], You've got enough rizz for that.' True, I mean I didn't know what rizz was, but I learned."
The reality star said she has five rounds of immunotherapy left in her treatment
Image credits: teddimellencamp
Teddi has reportedly undergone more than 20 surgeries since being diagnosed with cancer.
On April 4, she rang "the good luck bell" to mark her last day of radiation and noted that she still has five rounds of immunotherapy.
People sent their best wishes to the 43-year-old mom amid her treatment
