Teddi Mellencamp is reflecting on her cancer journey.
As the reality star, 43, continues to battle stage 4 cancer, she opened up about her mental state in a heartbreaking Instagram post Wednesday.
Mellencamp posted side-by-side shots capturing the before-and-after of her diagnosis.
The first picture showed the “RHOBH” alum smiling with her long, blond hair, framing her face, while the second snap showed her shaved head.
“What a difference 4 months makes,” Mellencamp wrote beneath the photos. “Sometimes I am so focused on ‘being strong’ that I forget I am allowed to be sad, cry it out, and feel very alone. I love my kids, friends, and family so much and am forever grateful to them but dang today is one of those days.”
She added, “If you are having a day where you can’t wait for it to be bedtime so you can start over tomorrow leave me a ❤️. We are not alone. PS. I have watched Netflix and Hulu, what do I watch next?#overyoucancer.”
Mellencamp’s post comes on the heels of her revealing that her rock star father, John Mellencamp, is already planning her burial in their family mausoleum in Indiana.
On the recent episode of her “Two Ts in a Pod” podcast, the host admitted the musician, 73, called her “11 times in a row” to discuss her plans.
“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,’ ” she recalled.
She then asked John if there would also be room for her and estranged husband Edwin Arroyave’s three children: Slate, 12, Cruz, 10, and Dove, 5.
“He’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.’”
John encouraged his daughter to make the decision now, telling her, “You’re doing your will right now, so you may as well put it in there.”
The equestrian admitted to her co-host Tamra Judge that she did agree to her dad’s request, teasing that she wants to have “hot girls never die” engraved on her tombstone.
In February, she announced there were tumors discovered in her brain and she would undergo surgery to remove them. While under, doctors removed four tumors but also found multiple tumors in her brain and on her lungs.
Teddi was previously diagnosed with stage 2 melanoma in October 2022, which then metastasized into what she is dealing with now.
“I have multiple tumors in my brain that weren’t able to be removed via surgery. I also have 2 tumors in my lungs. These are all metastases of my melanoma,” she updated followers on Instagram in March. “The doctors are hopeful that immunotherapy will effectively treat them.”
She noted that she is “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.”
“This is definitely the hardest thing [I’ve faced in my life], but now it feels less hard,” the mom of three told Us Weekly earlier this week. “When I was in the ICU, it was incredibly difficult because I had no memory. One day, I realized it was my daughter’s birthday, and I couldn’t be there for it; it was really sad. It’s still sad when I can’t be there for my kids the way I’d normally be.”
Teddi also revealed that one way she stays positive during the difficult battle is by “planning things I look 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,” she explained to the outlet. “And I’m really lucky that Edwin, who I was in the middle of a divorce from, we put everything on hold. [It] wasn’t really the time to be fighting over emails. He’s been extremely kind and helping with the kids. That’s made things a lot easier.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
