Teddi Mellencamp is defending her dad, John Mellencamp, after revealing he made comments about her joining the family mausoleum.
Speaking on the Friday, April 18 episode of her podcast “Two Ts in a Pod,” Teddi, who is in the midst of a stage IV cancer battle, clarified his remarks were made in jest.
According to Teddi, 43, her father knows her so well that he knew that the joke would help lighten the mood as they tackled the emotionally and physically heavy situation.
“My dad knows that I need like, some comedy to this,” she explained to cohost Tamra Judge, before adding that John, 73, supported her through the tough, serious stuff as well.
She continued: “His next quote or his next thing was like, all right, now we actually really do have to get talking serious, like we need to talk about your will and like your living trust and like, do the things we need to do, you know.”
Teddi doubled-down on how much she appreciated humor as they navigated the necessary but tough tasks surround her health issues, adding, “But like sometimes I don’t want just someone to come pummel me.
During the podcast, Teddi also explained that she told family members, including her sister, not to cry around her during her cancer battle.
It comes after Teddi revealed in the April 8 episode of the podcast that John had tried to call her 11 times in a row.
Teddi Mellencamp. (Photo by Robin Marchant/WireImage)
When he finally got a hold of his daughter, John had a question for her.
“Finally, I answer, I’m like, ‘I’m in the bath. Let me live a little,’” Teddi recalled. “He goes, ‘I just want to make sure you’re going to be in our group family mausoleum.”
Teddi said she replied that she has kids and didn’t know where they would go in the mausoleum. (She and her estranged husband Edwin Arroyave share kids Slate, 12, Cruz, 10, and Dove, 5. Arroyave is also father to eldest daughter Isabella, from a previous relationship.)
“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,’” she continued. “He goes, ‘You’re doing your will right now, so you may as well put it in there.’”
Teddi is continuing to battle stage IV melanoma, which has spread to her brain and lungs. She underwent surgery in February to address tumors on her brain before doctors found more tumors in March.
The Real Housewives alum told Nightline earlier this month that she tries to use humor in a situation she describes as feeling like “the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
“If I didn’t find humor, I would cry,” she said. “Even with my kids, the other day, we kept forgetting something and we often go, ‘The tumors!’ It’s kind of the only way.”
