Teddi Mellencamp explains how cancer changed her outlook
Teddi Mellencamp has become more relaxed and less of a perfectionist since battling stage 4 cancer.
Teddi Mellencamp has become more relaxed and less of a perfectionist since having cancer.
The former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star - who has Slate, 12, Cruz, 11 and Dove, six, with estranged husband Edwin Arroyave - is currently cancer-free after battling stage 4 melanoma, which had spread to her lungs and brain, but her health struggles have made her rethink her attitude to life.
She explained to Extra: "I think the biggest thing it’s taught me is like I’ve always, whether it has shown or not, been a perfectionist and wanted everything to be right all the time. And I can’t live that way anymore.
"I’m like, if you need to get in touch with me, you can text me. I don’t check my emails. I don’t know how to do... like, this is the new me. And same goes with my kids. I used to be like, ‘We have to be on schedule 24/7 and like we have gymnastics...’ and now I’m like, ‘All right, guys. This is what we’re gonna do.”
The 45-year-old star still has days where she feels "really low" and she stressed that she isn't in "remission".
She said: "You know, some days I feel great and some days I feel really low. And I think that that’s one thing I didn’t really realize. People think like once you get through radiation and then you’re on to either their chemotherapy or their immunotherapy, then, like, you’re healed. And you’re like, ‘No, I’m still in the midst of it.’
"I'm not allowed to say that I'm in remission, but I'm allowed to say that I'm cancer-free for right now." She explained that she has 10 more months of immunotherapy, which "seems to be working."
Teddi believes being honest and open about her feelings during every step of her treatment helped her through her odeal.
Asked what kept her going, she said: “I would say honestly just being open and vulnerable about the process. Like, I will on the bad days, I’ll talk to my family or my friends and I’ll be like, ‘This is a really hard day and, like, it has nothing to do with you, but I am really struggling.'
"And something about being able to share that and not being judged is like, okay, then the next day you’re like, ‘I can do this.'"
The Two Ts in a Pod host recently went Instagram official with her new boyfriend PJ Conley and she's having a great time with the 31-year-old financial benefits analyst .
She said: “It’s good... I have to adjust. Like, I’m used to being like, you know, well, I was married for 17. I mean, I still married, right?
"No, PJ’s great. He’s really fun. It’s like one of those things where I am able to look forward to something to do after 4pm, which is very difficult for me. Like 4 pm, I’m starting to wind down… He’s like, ‘I don’t want to push you, but can you do dinner at seven tonight?’ And I’m like, ‘Ooh, seven.’
“Our very first date that we like after we met on Hinge… He was like, ‘Can you meet at 7:30 at Casa Vega?’ And I was like, ‘7:30.’ So I had my girlfriend Amy come with me and we just had dinner there before he even met and so when he arrived I’m sitting there with another girl… I was like, there was no way I was gonna wait and come at 7:30.”
