Teddi Mellencamp’s cancer journey has been filled with highs and lows, but the television personality was happy to celebrate positive news from her doctors on Monday night.
Mellencamp attended An Unforgettable Evening, an event benefiting the Women’s Cancer Research Fund in Beverly Hills, with her best friend and former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills costar Kyle Richards. It was her first formal event since she underwent surgery in February to remove several brain tumors. Mellencamp debuted her shaved head on the red carpet.
“I’m doing OK,” she told Yahoo Entertainment on the red carpet. “I would say that I’m feeling great in the fact that I’m doing better physically, and the mental stuff — it’s highs and lows. But I’m so happy to be here and [to] be able to support this event and such an important cause.”
Richards, who lost her mother to breast cancer, told Yahoo it was a relief to be at the gala, which raises funds for pioneering cancer research across leading medical and academic institutions in the U.S., after receiving “positive news from Teddi’s doctor.”
“We were waiting with bated breath, all of us in the last week for her to get either good news or bad news. It was a very scary time for her and everyone that loves her,” the Bravo star said. “So it feels way better to be here tonight with that.”
Last week, Mellencamp shared on social media that “all tumors stage IV (metastasized melanoma in my brain and lungs) shrunk or disappeared.” After two more immunotherapy sessions, doctors are hopeful she will be “cancer free.”
Mellencamp chose not to wear a wig at the gala, something Richards found “really inspiring.”
“To see someone like Teddi be so strong and show up here tonight looking absolutely stunning. She was like, ‘Do I wear a wig? They’re uncomfortable sometimes.’ And I said, ‘You look so gorgeous.’ Not everybody can do that and show people it’s OK,” Richards said. “You’re gorgeous no matter what.”
Teddi Mellencamp and Kyle Richards. (Monica Schipper/Getty Images for Women’s Cancer Research Fund)
Mellencamp, who shares daughters Slate, 12, and Dave, 5, and son Cruz, 10, with her estranged husband Edwin Arroyave, said she’s had an “amazing support system” throughout this process. That has included Richards every step of the way.
“I did everything from sleeping with her at the hospital to going to doctor’s appointments, to bringing her a cuter blanket at the hospital, to making her laugh, to taking embarrassing videos of her that I knew that I could show her [later] she would appreciate and laugh at,” Richards said of how she’s been at her friend’s side. “Really, that’s what it is — trying to keep her happy. We have nights just at home and she comes and has sleepovers and we just laugh.”
Mellencamp joked that Monday was “the first time I’ve been out past 8:30 [p.m.] since this happened.”
“I looked at Kyle, I’m like, ‘Are we gonna make it?’” she laughed. “Normally I just come to your house and we watch some TV. But it’s really important that we’re here.”
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