- - Teddi Mellencamp's Melanoma: Everything the Reality Star“ ”Has Said About Her Cancer Diagnosis

Emily Blackwood, Nicole PomaricoJanuary 16, 2026 at 11:47 PM

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Charles Sykes/Bravo via Getty ; Phillip Faraone/Getty

Teddi Mellencamp at 'Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen' on October 25, 2023 ; Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave attends the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame Gala on May 16, 2025 in Beverly Hills, California. -

Real Housewives star Teddi Mellencamp was diagnosed with stage 2 melanoma in 2022

Since then, she has continued to share her cancer journey as she has undergone treatment

In 2025, Mellencamp shared that her cancer had progressed to stage 4

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Teddi Mellencamp has been openly sharing her journey with cancer since she was diagnosed with melanoma in 2022.

The daughter of legendary singer John Mellencamp revealed on Instagram in March 2022 that she avoided her annual skin cancer screening for years because of anxiety. When she finally went at the insistence of costar Kyle Richards, her doctors removed a “big” spot from her back. A few months later, she went back in for a check-up and was diagnosed with stage 2 melanoma.

“I so badly wanted to blow this off,” Mellencamp wrote in an October 2022 Instagram post. “I continue to share this journey because I was a 90s teen, putting baby oil and iodine on my skin to tan it. Never wearing sunscreen or getting my moles checked until I was 40 years old.”

In the years that followed, the reality star and podcast host underwent multiple surgeries and treatments to remove her melanoma. Then, in February 2025, Mellencamp shared that as "a direct result" of her melanoma, doctors had found tumors on her brain. Less than two months later, she shared that her cancer reached stage 4.

Her father, John Mellencamp, shared an update on his daughter's health while appearing on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast in January 2026. “She’s got cancer in the brain, and she’s suffering right now," he said.

Here’s everything to know about Teddi Mellencamp’s cancer journey and what she’s said about her ongoing treatment.

She was diagnosed with stage 2 melanoma in 2022

Teddi Mellencamp/Instagram

Teddi Mellencamp in February 2025.

Months after she had a mole removed from her back in 2022, Mellencamp announced on Instagram that she had been diagnosed with stage 2 melanoma.

“They said I had another abnormal spot near my last one so they did a biopsy,” she captioned a photo of a scar and bandage on her back. “I got the call this morning: Stage 2 melanoma.”

Though surgical removal had been the initial treatment plan, her doctors discovered two more cancerous moles that same month and told her they thought she was predisposed to melanomas. The RHOBH star shared on Instagram that she would need “wide excision surgery” to remove the moles and see how far the cancer had spread.

"Feeling very grateful and blessed that we caught this when we did," Mellencamp wrote in another Instagram post, “and that I have so many incredible doctors and surgeons working with me today to hopefully get the best outcome.”

She's had 17 melanomas removed

Steve Granitz/FilmMagic; Teddi Mellencamp/Instagram

Teddi Mellencamp arrives at the KIIS FM's iHeartRadio Jingle Ball 2023; Teddi Mellencamp Shares Graphic Image of Cancer Surgery Scar for World Cancer Day.

Since 2022, Mellencamp has had 17 melanomas removed. After having 11 melanomas removed in December 2022, she developed three new spots within a month and had those, plus two additional moles, surgically removed over the next two years.

She told her Instagram followers in December 2024 that after undergoing 20 different surgeries, she was overjoyed when she finally had a skin check-up that didn’t result in a biopsy.

“The anxiety always takes over; the thought of another biopsy, another surgery, another addition to the scar on my back," Mellencamp said in a video. “And I always end up crying. But today the tears were those of joy. Because for the first time, there wasn’t anything abnormal, nothing that needed an extra look. And I am grateful.”

Doctors found multiple tumors on her brain in 2025

Teddi Mellencamp/ Instagram

Teddi Mellencamp after surgery in December 2023.

In February 2025, Mellencamp announced that after weeks of experiencing “severe and debilitating headaches,” CT and MRI scans found multiple tumors on her brain. She said that her doctors believed that they had been “growing for at least six months.”

“Two of the tumors will be surgically removed today,” she wrote in an Instagram post. “The remaining smaller tumors will be dealt with via radiation at a later date. I am blessed to be surrounded by my children, family, friends, doctors, nurses and surgeons who are doing everything possible to get me back into better health.”

After she had four tumors removed, five more were found

After undergoing a craniotomy with a tumor resection, Mellencamp revealed that four tumors were removed instead of two. “This fight is not over,” she wrote on Instagram, “but that round has been won.”

Post-surgery scans revealed three additional tumors on her brain that couldn’t be removed during surgery and two on her lungs. She wrote on her Instagram Stories that despite the news, she was feeling “positive” and that her doctors were hopeful that immunotherapy and radiation would treat them.

Mellencamp also noted that even though she liked her new shaved hair, she did get a blonde wig to rock as well.

She said the tumors were caused by her melanoma

Teddi Mellencamp/ Instagram

Teddi Mellencamp shows her scars in September 2024.

On Instagram, Mellencamp wrote that the brain and lung tumors were “all metastases” of her melanoma. Brain metastases develop in up to 60% of patients with advanced melanoma, according to the National Library of Medicine.

When the cancer cells migrate through the blood-brain barrier, brain tumors can form and their presence “significantly worsens a patient’s prognosis.”

In April 2025, she shared that her cancer had progressed to stage 4

On April 3, Mellencamp shared a video on her Instagram Stories announcing that her cancer has been classified as stage 4.

“I just want to say thank you guys so much. So many messages about how strong I am. And I gotta tell you, some days I feel really really strong and some days I feel really really sad and alone," she said. "And I think that’s a normal part of what any of us are going through, and that’s okay. Stage 4 cancer can be scary.”

“I kinda thought that I had already beaten it,” she added. “And then a couple days later, I found out I had four more tumors. So there’s so many different highs and lows.”

She went on to say that she has "learned to listen to my body" as she focuses on her health and her future.

“I’m just thinking about all the goals that I have for the future for myself and for my kids,” she said.

In July 2025, she shared on the Jamie Kern Lima Show that she has a "50-50" chance of survival.

"But like, I truly believe this when I say this — and it's gonna make me emotional — I truly believe that I'm gonna live," she said. "I need to believe it. 'Cause if not, it's just too sad."

Her dad is planning her burial

Kevin Mazur/Getty Teddi Mellencamp and John Mellencamp attend a private viewing of John Mellencamp's "Life, Death, Love, Freedom" at ACA Galleries on April 25, 2018 in New York City

A week after sharing that her cancer was now stage 4, Mellencamp joked that her dad, John, was already planning her burial in Indiana during an episode of her Two T’s In A Pod podcast.

Mellencamp said she was taking a bath when her dad called. "He goes, 'I just want to make sure you’re going to be in our group family mausoleum,' " she said.

When she asked if there would be enough space for her three children to be buried there too, he responded, "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."

After she asked if she needed to make a decision about the burial right away, John told her, "You're doing your will right now, so you may as well put it in there."

She briefly paused immunotherapy

Rich Polk/Bravo

Teddi Mellencamp arrives at BravoCon on November 14, 2025 in Las Vegas, NV.

In July 2025, Mellencamp shared that she briefly stopped immunotherapy treatments amid intense side effects.

"Essentially, I haven't been feeling good for about a month, which was kind of shocking to me, and I think, mentally did a lot to me," she said during an episode of her Two Ts in a Pod with Teddi Mellencamp and Tamra Judge, adding that she could barely open her eyes or "keep her words straight."

She continued, "We're going to take a little break on the immunotherapy to get my body back feeling stronger."

on People

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”