Teddi Mellencamp is speaking out about the 50/50 prognosis she’s facing amid her battle with brain and lung cancer and sharing how her three children are coping with her health crisis.
While also addressing the physical challenges she’s endured, looking back on her lowest moment, and gushing over how dad John Mellencamp, 73, has helped her, the 44-year-old Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum spoke of why her marriage to Edwin Arroyave, 48, came to an end, confirmed whether they’re still living together, and shared her thoughts on dating.
“I would say probably 50/50,” Teddi revealed of her survival rate on the July 29 episode of The Jamie Kern Lima Show. “But I truly believe this when I say this … I truly believe that I’m gonna live.”
As she remains positive for herself, she’s doing the same for her children, Slate, 12, Cruz, 10, and Dove, 5, noting that they’ve all responded differently to what she’s going through.
“[Slate] is kind of my, probably like my mini me in the way that like, everything’s just so, and here we go and this is our plan and we’re sticking to the plan … The second that she could tell I’m thirsty, like she’s there with like the Pedialyte,” Teddi shared. “Cruz, who before was my most timid of children … he stood up … And he’s like, ‘Mom … I want you to know that like I’m the man of the house.'”
As for Dove, Teddi said that while she doesn’t know if she really understands, she’s always making her laugh.
“She says she wants another haircut and she’d like it bald,” Teddi laughed.
Throughout the past several months, Teddi, who endured brain surgery in February, has seen a lot of body changes. In fact, after being put on steroids, she went from “emaciated and skinny” to gaining 25 pounds. And while she struggled with the changes at first, she ultimately told herself, “You’re gonna have to let this physical part go.”
In addition to her friends, including Kyle Richards, 56, Teddi’s dad, John, has been “beyond” helpful, even going as far as hiring a nurse.
“With all of these medical treatments and everything, he has stepped in … He calls me every single day. He makes sure that I’m okay,” she noted.
According to Teddi, it was one particular moment in the hospital after her surgery that led John to intervene with her treatment plan.
“I looked at my dad and all my friends, and I’m like, ‘I cannot stay in here another day. I can’t live like this anymore. I am so miserable. I feel like everybody would be better without me.’ And at that moment … they were like, ‘What? Nobody would be better without you,'” she recalled. “You gotta remember, I was so weak. I couldn’t give myself a bath. I couldn’t take a shower. I had ginormous holes in my head … So he was the one that helped me get the nurse that came and taught me all these things.”
Moving on to her relationship with Edwin, Teddi said he’ll “always be [her] friend” as she confirmed that they’d put their divorce on pause.
“My dad and family just said like, ‘I don’t think this is the right thing for her to be able to try to navigate right now or figure out.’ And it wasn’t even a second, [Edwin] was like, ‘Yeah, of course. No, we’ll wait. We’ll wait until she’s better and then we’ll figure it out,'” Teddi shared.
As for why they split, Teddi said that Edwin simply wasn’t giving her what she needed.
“We were having some issues in our marriage that I wish when I did have stage two, I would’ve talked to Edwin about it more and what I needed because I think men so often wanna be the protector and the provider and the this and the that … [But] I just wanted somebody to come lay in bed with me and watch a movie … I wanted just someone to collapse with me for a little bit, not fix me,” she explained.
Although Teddi and Edwin are no longer partners, they are living together at their former marital home in Encino, California.
“We’re staying in the house together. Like some weeks, he’ll stay at our other house, but like this week, I told him I’m really sick and he’s like staying downstairs in the bedroom,” she revealed.
Then speaking of dating, Teddi said that while she’s “not in that place,” she would “be fine with [Edwin] dating.”
“I just want him to be happy,” she shared.
