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Despite her famous father’s wishes, Teddi Mellencamp isn’t sure about recovering from stage four cancer in the comfort of her own home.
The former “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star heard John Mellencamp’s plea to return to Indiana to recuperate in peace — and be near him — but she isn’t moving anytime soon.
Teddi, 44, who was recently cast as Calla Lilly in “The Masked Singer,” revealed a few key reasons why she won’t be leaving Los Angeles for the Midwest.
JOHN MELLENCAMP WANTS DAUGHTER TEDDI TO GO ‘BACK HOME’ TO NDIANA DURING CANCER FIGHT
Teddi Mellencamp, recently cast as Calla Lily in “The Masked Singer,” explains why she won’t leave LA despite her father, John Mellencamp’s plea. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for JM)
During an appearance on “The Today Show” earlier this year, the “Jack & Diane” singer admitted that she tried to talk Teddi into moving home during her cancer battle.
“I said, ‘Go back to Indiana, bring the kids and just come back and live in Indiana,’ but it won’t do,” he said.
Teddy was surprised to hear his father’s words, and admitted during an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, “I’m not going to Indiana.”
WATCH: Teddy Mellencamp laughs off dad’s plea to get out of Hollywood
“I have all these children, they go to school here,” said Teddi. “Edwin [Teddi’s estranged husband] you live here… Come on. Between him, you say like that, I’m suffering, like you, you’re putting me in trouble.”
TEDDI MELLENCAMP REVIEWS HIMSELF WITH A SPEECH FOLLOWING CANCER TREATMENT
He added, “I get a call from my publicist. He’s like, ‘Hey, anything we need to talk about? And I’m like, ‘By suffering, you mean I’m depressed right now.’
“I have all these children, they go to school here. Edwin lives here … Come. Between him saying that, and I’m suffering, I can say, he’s including me.”
Teddi Mellencamp revealed the fourth stage of cancer detection in February 2025. (Sara Jaye/Getty Images for Trü Frü)
Calla Lily as Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave in the “Red, White and Clue” episode of “The Masked Singer,” which aired Wednesday, Feb. 4 (Michael Becker/FOX)
The “Cherry Bomb” singer noted on her “Today” spot that Teddi had both good and bad days, and generally felt like herself until she received immunotherapy treatment that made her “feel like hell for about four days.”
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“You can’t say you don’t have cancer with the type of cancer he’s had for three years,” he explained. “So he has lesions on his brain, they started on his back, just a small area on him. A few years ago it grew, and it was there. inside his mind and his lungs.”
The host of the “Two T’s in a Pod” podcast thought his father only had his best interests at heart.
“He really wants me there. I mean, he looks at me every day on the phone,” she told Fox News Digital. “And there are days when I laugh, and I have the best time and there are days when I cry, and I feel like I don’t know how I’m going to make it through another day.”
He noted that John is “going through ups and downs” as he recovers from cancer.
“There are days when I laugh, and I have the best time and there are days when I cry, and I feel like I don’t know how I’m going to make it through another day.”
Teddi appreciates the support of her rock dad John Mellencamp. (Charles Sykes)
“I think he wants to be there [her kids] and you know that you live far away. But I’m lucky for him, I have a lot of support from friends out here.”
He hasn’t quite started moving yet, but don’t expect Teddi to start packing for cold weather.
“Sometimes I think I’m going to go to where my sister lives … in Hilton Head, South Carolina, and that’s where I’m from,” she said. “He’s got a house somewhere near there. So if I ever go home, it’ll be in South Carolina and not Indiana. It’s okay in Indiana, but I don’t like cold weather.”
About competing in “The Masked Singer,” Teddi says it was “a lot of fun” for her kids.
“It’s their favorite program. Therefore, they were very happy. They knew the second they heard my voice that it was me because I had hidden it from them,” he said. “And so they were very happy, but other than that, I mean ‘Hidden Singer’ did a lot for me because leading up to that, I was really sick. And I can even see my emotions getting better now, you know, like you could see if you looked closely when I was singing, my hands were really shaking.
“And I had forgotten how nervous I was. And then when I looked at that, I was like, oh yeah, I forgot that, because when you recover, you forget, you only think about the negative, not the positive. And I’m like, that’s a huge positive. That drove me crazy. I couldn’t write. Like that my hands couldn’t shake, so I couldn’t shake. Like you have to be thankful for those things, because they happen even if they happen on my time or not.”
WATCH: Teddi Mellencamp says ‘Hidden Artist’ helped her recover
Teddy first shared that he was diagnosed with Stage 2 melanoma in March 2022, and later shared in April 2025 that his skin cancer had progressed to Stage IV and that it had spread to his brain and lungs. He underwent surgery to remove tumors from his brain, and when he was removed, the doctors found more.
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Later that month, tests showed that her tumors were shrinking in size. Among the many debilitating effects he faced on his cancer journey was his ability to speak clearly. His performance in “The Masked Singer” helped him in more ways than one.
Teddi Mellencamp admitted that being on “The Masked Singer” helped her in more ways than she thought. (Michael Becker/FOX)
“‘The Masked Singer’ did a lot for me because leading up to it, I was really sick,” said Teddi. “And I can see the improvement in my movement now… You could see if you looked closely when I was singing, my hands were really shaking. And I had forgotten how much I was shaking.
“Then when I was watching that, I was like, ‘Oh yeah, I forgot,’ because when you recover, you forget, you only think about the negative, not the positive. And I’m like, that’s a huge positive. That drove me crazy.”
He added, “I couldn’t write, like my hands were shaking so much that I couldn’t write. Now my hands don’t move at all … you have to be thankful for those things because they happen, whether they happen in my time or not.”
His “time” does not always correspond to his actual path. Teddi admitted last year that her father insisted she finalize burial arrangements and make sure her will was up to date.
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“Yesterday, my dad calls me 11 times in a row. Finally, I answer, I’m like, ‘I’m taking a shower. “He goes, ‘I want to make sure you’re going to be at our family museum for the team.’
Teddi Mellencamp underwent multiple surgeries during her battle with brain cancer. (Getty Images/Instagram)
He added, “He’s like, ‘Well, there’s going to be a top five, and then we’re going to have little plots around it, and that’s where everybody’s going to be buried.’ He goes, ‘You are you are doing your will right nowto put it in there.’
Finally, he said, “I think I agreed to be in the mausoleum,” and joked that someone he met not long ago inspired him to put “Hot Girls Never Die” on his tombstone.
