Teddi Mellencamp is pausing her immunotherapy treatment for stage four melanoma due to debilitating side effects. The former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star provided the update on her podcast, Two Ts in a Pod, explaining the difficult decision.
“What’s happening with me is the longer that I’m on immunotherapy, the sicker it’s making me,” Mellencamp, 44, shared. She described experiencing severe fatigue that left her barely able to keep her eyes open and struggling to “keep her words straight.” The temporary halt in treatment, she explained, is intended to allow her body to regain strength, supported by steroids.
Mellencamp was first diagnosed with melanoma in 2022. In February of this year, her condition advanced to stage four after the cancer metastasized to her lungs and brain. She subsequently underwent major brain surgery to remove four tumors before beginning the immunotherapy regimen.
This health update follows a recent interview with Glamour in which Mellencamp voiced frustration over her early medical care. She questioned why full-body scans were not performed when her melanoma was first discovered at stage one on her shoulder. “They were like, ‘We didn’t do the scans, because you didn’t have anything above a stage one on your body.’ But look what happened,” she told the publication.
Mellencamp shares three children—Slate, 12; Cruz, 10; and Dove, five—with her estranged husband, Edwin Arroyave. She has been a vocal advocate for her health and has spoken about the impact of her diagnosis on her family.
“I’m fighting for my life,” she said in an April interview with Us Weekly, “but also for my family’s life and all the people I love.”