Teddi Mellencamp Shares A Cancer Regret: ‘I Wasn’t There’

Teddi Mellencamp has opened up about the impact her battle with stage 4 cancer is having on her kids.

Mellencamp shares three children, Slate, 12, Cruz, 10, and Dove, 5, and a stepdaughter, Isabella, 15, with her estranged husband, Edwin Arroyave.

The Bravo alum filed for divorce from Arroyave in November 2024, but the couple has put it on hold as she tries to beat the deadly disease.

On Friday, Mellencamp sat down with Entertainment Tonight‘s Nischelle Turner to discuss her battle with stage 4 cancer and its impact on her family.

She began by giving a rundown of her health journey since her melanoma diagnosis three years ago.

As the interview progressed, Mellencamp opened up about her struggles, especially with how her sickness was affecting her relationship with her kids.

She said, “I don’t think you can understand like the debilitating pain that I feel some days thinking about the fact that like my kids, you know.”

At this point, Mellencamp got emotional and tried hard to hold back the tears.

Turner also got emotional as she listened to Mellencamp, who continued, “You know like that is extremely frightening. Like my kids are young. I mean, I remember one day in the hospital, I was like, ‘I feel like today might be Dove’s birthday,’ and Edwin’s like, ‘It is. It’s her party today that you planned.'”

She recalled, “And I was like, ‘Can they please just let me out for today?’ And he’s like, ‘You realize you have not only gone through massive brain surgery, but you have a hole in your head.'”

Mellencamp continued, “And, I just remember in that moment he said exactly what I needed him to say. He’s like, ‘We’ll throw another one.'”

The “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” alum shared how her heart was broken because she couldn’t be there for Dove’s birthday.

Fighting back tears, she said, “But, like my heart broke because I wonder like will she remember that I wasn’t there.”

Earlier in the interview, Mellencamp dished on her and Arroyave’s divorce plans.

She shared that her estranged husband “has been great” amid her health struggles before adding, “I mean we’re still getting a divorce. We’re just not, we put a hold on it like the last thing I need is that stress.

Mellencamp continued, “We’re good parents together. We have a lot of laughs and like I’ve had to say to him a couple of times like, ‘I don’t need you. I’m going through this and all I need for you is to be my friend.'”

The 43-year-old explained that Arroyave usually struggled to deal with such words but would be more understanding and see her point of view after thinking about it.

Mellencamp’s interview comes two weeks after Arroyave opened up about how they told their kids about her heartbreaking diagnosis.

During the April 3 episode of “The Eds” podcast, the father of four said he and Mellencamp decided to be honest with their kids about the situation.

He said per PEOPLE Magazine, “I would stay at home and make sure they were confident and again make sure that they knew that and I was upfront with them [about] what was going on.”

Arroyave said the kids were “scared” and “concerned,” but he tried his “best to again not sugarcoat it too much.”

He explained, “I called it the way it was. It’s like, ‘Hey, there’s some tumors that your mom has in her brain.’ And 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.”

Arroyave also told his kids, ‘”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.'”

She shared a picture of the bald spot on her head alongside a photo of her hair before she began treatment.

In the post’s caption, she got candid, writing, “What a difference 4 months makes. Sometimes I am so focused on ‘being strong’ that I forget I am allowed to be sad, cry it out, and feel very alone.”

Mellencamp added, “I love my kids, friends, and family so much and am forever grateful to them but dang today is one of those days.”

She urged her followers to leave her a red heart emoji if they were “having a day where you can’t wait for it to be bedtime so you can start over tomorrow.”