Teddi Mellencamp claims she was denied GLP-1s after weight gain from cancer treatment
Teddi Mellencamp has claimed that her doctor denied her request to go on a GLP-1 medication when she gained weight from her cancer treatment.
The 44-year-old former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star — who has stage four melanoma — spoke about popular weight loss drugs during Thursday’s episode of her and Tamara Judge’s podcast, Two Ts in a Pod.
“I am a health and wellness coach who’s dying of cancer. But because I’m getting bigger from the steroids, I asked my doctor if I could have GLP-1s,” Mellencamp said while discussing the impacts of her cancer treatment with her guest co-host, Real Housewives of New Jersey star Dolores Catania. “And he was like, ‘No!”
“I’m so sorry someone told you no, but I don’t know that I’d listen!” Catania responded, while noting that she’ll be taking GLP-1, commonly used to treat type-2 diabetes and obesity by reducing blood sugar levels and curbing appetite.
However, Mellencamp claimed that she doesn’t need to rely on her doctor to get the medication. “I mean, I know people where I could get it. I have friends that do it,” she added.
“Tell your doctor to shut up,” Catania quipped, before Mellecamp laughed and said, “Listen. Let me enjoy my time.”
Cantina said she didn’t think her friend was dying, with claims that Mellencamp’s doctor would have put her on GLP-1 if she was. However, Mellencamp still argued that she should be able to use the medication for weight loss.
“I think it’s just that I’ve gained weight,” she added. “So rude. Let me live. You tell me to live my best life, but I don’t even get to. Like, where’s my GLP-1s?”
Mellencamp was diagnosed with melanoma in 2022. Her condition advanced to stage four in 2025 and metastasized to her lungs and brain. She then underwent major brain surgery that removed four tumors.
In October, she said on her Two T’s in a Pod podcast that she had “no detectable cancer.”
“When they told me, I was in such shock. I was like, numb,” she said.
However, she will remain on immunotherapy treatments for another year. “I’m still going to be having days when I’m feeling sick and stuff because I still am in immunotherapy, so I’m still fighting because you have to be,” she explained.
“I’m not considered in remission or anything like that,” she noted. “The way the [doctors] said it works, it’s like one year, then two years, then at three years you’re allowed to be considered… in remission.”
Last month, she took the stage at the iHeartRadio Awards to present her father, singer John Mellencamp, with the iHeartRadio Music Icon Award. During her speech, she recalled how her dad helped her in the aftermath of her cancer diagnosis.
“He stepped up, took control, fought for me, and pretty much changed my life, saved my life,” she said. The reality star then offered a candid response to the oft-asked question about “growing up with a rock star for a father.”
“In my eyes, it was no different than anybody else,” she said. “He gave me advice, he’d give me groundings, he would love on me.”
