Despite her famous father’s wishes, Teddi Mellencamp is adamant 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 move back to Indiana so that she could heal in peace — and be closer to him — but she’s not moving anytime soon.
Teddi, 44, who was recently revealed as Calla Lilly on “The Masked Singer,” cited a few important reasons as to why she wouldn’t be leaving Los Angeles for the Midwest.
JOHN MELLENCAMP WANTS DAUGHTER TEDDI TO MOVE ‘BACK HOME’ TO INDIANA DURING CANCER FIGHT
During an appearance on “The Today Show” earlier this year, the “Jack & Diane” singer admitted he tried to talk Teddi into moving home during her cancer battle.
“I said, ‘Move back to Indiana, bring the kids and just come back and live in Indiana,’ but she won’t do it,” he said.
Teddi was taken aback when she heard her dad’s words, and confessed during an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, “I’m not going to Indiana.”
WATCH: Teddi Mellencamp laughs off dad’s plea to move out of Hollywood
“I have all these kids, they go to school here,” Teddi said. “Edwin [Teddi’s estranged husband] lives here … Come on. Between him saying that, and I’m suffering, I’m like, you’re really putting me through the wringer.”
TEDDI MELLENCAMP STRUGGLES WITH SPEECH FOLLOWING CANCER TREATMENT
She added, “I get a call from my publicist. She’s like, ‘Hey, anything we need to talk about? And I’m, like, ‘By suffering, he means I’m depressed right now.”
The “Cherry Bomb” singer noted in his “Today” spot that Teddi had both good and bad days, and usually feels like herself until she receives immunotherapy treatment which makes her “feel like hell for about four days.”
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“You can’t say you’re cancer-free with the type of cancer she’s got for three years,” he explained. “So she has lesions in her brain, it went from her back, just a little, teeny spot on her. Over the last couple years it grew, and it got inside her brain and her lungs.”
The co-host of “Two T’s in a Pod” podcast thought her father was only looking out for her best interests.
“Of course he wants me there. I mean, he checks on me every single day on the phone,” she told Fox News Digital. “And there are some days where I’m laughing, and I’m having the best time, and there’s some days when I’m crying, and I feel like I don’t know how I’m going to do this another day.”
She noted that John “sees the highs and lows” as she recovers from cancer.
“I think he wants to be there for them [her kids] and he knows that he lives far away. But lucky for him, I have a great support of friends out here.”
She hasn’t completely ruled out a move, but don’t count on Teddi to start packing for chillier weather.
“Sometimes I think I would go to where my sister lives … in Hilton Head, South Carolina, and that’s where I’m from,” she said. “He has a house kind of near there. So if I would ever go home, it would be to South Carolina, not Indiana. No offense to Indiana, but I do not like cold weather.”
As for competing on “The Masked Singer,” Teddi says “it was so exciting” for her kids.
“It’s their favorite show. So like, they were beyond excited. They knew the second they heard my voice that it was me, because I had kept it a secret from them,” she shared. “And so they were, beyond excited, but other than that, I mean I would say ‘Masked Singer’ has done so much for me, because leading up to it, I had been really, really sick. And I even see improvement in my emotions now, you know, like you could see if you watch closely when I was singing, my hands were really shaking.
“And I had kind of forgotten how much I was shaking. And then when I watching that, I was like, oh yeah, I forgot that, because when you’re recovering, you forget, you kind of only think about the negative, not the positive. And I’m like, that is a huge positive. That drove me crazy. I couldn’t write. Like my hands were shaking so bad that I couldn’t write. Like now, my hands don’t shake at all. Like you’ve gotta be grateful for those things, because it is happening whether it’s happening on my timeframe or not.”
WATCH: Teddi Mellencamp says ‘The Masked Singer’ helped her heal
Teddi first shared she was diagnosed with stage 2 melanoma in March 2022, and later shared in April 2025 that her skin cancer had grown to stage 4 and that it had spread to her brain and lungs. She had surgery to remove the tumors on her brain, saying at the time that while getting them removed, doctors ended up finding more.
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Later that month, a scan showed her tumors were decreasing in size. One of the many debilitating effects she suffered from on her cancer journey was her inability to speak clearly. Her stint on “The Masked Singer” helped her in more ways than one.
“‘The Masked Singer’ has done so much for me because leading up to it, I had been really, really sick,” Teddi said. “And I even see improvement in my motions now. . . . You could see if you watch closely when I was singing, my hands were really shaking. And I had kind of forgotten how much I was shaking.
“Then when I was watching that, I was like, ‘Oh yeah, I forgot that,’ because when you’re recovering, you forget, you kind of only think about the negative, not the positive. And I’m like, that is a huge positive. That drove me crazy.”
She added, “I couldn’t write, like my hands were shaking so bad that I couldn’t write. Now my hands don’t shake at all … you’ve gotta be grateful for those things, because it is happening, whether it’s happening in my timeframe or not.”
Her “timeframe” hasn’t always aligned with her actual path. Teddi admitted last year that her father insisted she finalize burial plans and make sure her will is up to date.
“Yesterday, my dad calls me 11 times in a row. Finally, I answer, I’m like, ‘I’m in the bath. Let me live a little,’” Teddi explained. “He goes, ‘I just want to make sure you’re going to be in our group family mausoleum.'”
She added, “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.’ He goes, ‘You’re doing your will right now, so you may as well put it in there.’”
In the end, she said, “I think I agreed to be in the mausoleum,” and joked that someone she had met not too long ago had inspired her to get “Hot girls never die” put on her tombstone.
