Former “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star Teddi Mellencamp is opening up about the toll her cancer has taken on her family life.
“I think it’s really hard being in a place where, I kind of am in denial of where I am physically,” Mellencamp told co-host Tamra Judge during an episode of “Two Ts In A Pod,” the podcast she mans alongside her fellow “Real Housewives” alum.
“And when other people are not in denial, it’s hard,” she added.
Mellencamp, 44, shared earlier this year that she had been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in her brain and lungs. The reality star, who is daughter to rocker John Cougar Mellencamp, revealed in April on social media that after undergoing treatment, several of her tumors had “shrunk or disappeared.”
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Despite this development her family still urgers her to take her health seriously, Mellencamp said.
“My family wants to have like the hard conversations, and I don’t,” she told Judge. “They want to talk about things like the future, or medically, exactly how I’m doing, and I don’t want to talk about it.”
“You don’t want to talk about that with anybody,” Judge chimed in.
“I don’t want to talk about it with you either, for the record,” Mellencamp joked back.
Despite her reticence to share now, Mellencamp has been very open throughout her cancer journey with fans, sharing updates on her treatment, the success of immunotherapy and the hard conversations she’s needed to have with family along the way.
Mellencamp previously told USA TODAY that a positive mindset has been key to her journey.
“I’m feeling positive, but I also would say that my mood and my overall energy level shifts by the hour,” she said in May. “There’s moments of fear and there’s moments of whatever, but as long as I’m moving my body and taking action, then I seem to be in a more positive mindset.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Teddi Mellencamp cancer update: Reality star says she’s ‘in denial’
