Roxanne 
Teddi Mellencamp is no stranger to pushing through tough times—but a recent bout with Covid-19 brought on an emotional low that she describes as one of the most difficult experiences of her life.
On the September 17 episode of her Two T’s in a Pod podcast, the 44-year-old Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum shared that after contracting Covid-19, she sank into a state of “extreme, extreme depression.”
“I got COVID, which, I’m good now,” Teddi said. “Then I started feeling like extreme, extreme depression.”
She went on to say that the emotional weight of the illness left her feeling “completely hopeless,” a state that was entirely foreign to her.
Teddi has been battling stage 4 melanoma since earlier this year, after being initially diagnosed with stage 2 melanoma in 2022. At the time of her stage 4 diagnosis, she admitted, “I’m really scared.” Despite the severity of her illness, she continued living an active lifestyle—competing in horse shows, dating, and even undergoing surgery—all while trying to maintain a sense of normalcy.
Her podcast co-host, Erika Jayne, observed that the emotional fallout may have hit her all at once. “I think the gravity of what you’ve gone through is hitting you right now,” Erika said.
Teddi agreed: “I went from, like, having like this kind of chaotic life nonstop and then right into the hospital. And then I haven’t been able to process.”
Erika pointed out that Teddi had almost minimized her diagnosis emotionally. “You shrugged this very serious diagnosis off like it was nothing,” she told her. “You had surgery, you were competing in horse shows, you were dating … now it’s hitting you, like, months later, the seriousness and the gravity.”
Even at her lowest, Teddi didn’t reach out to Erika or others close to her, admitting, “I felt paralyzed. That’s why it’s, like, hard for me to even send a text message, or, reach out to anybody … the brain fog and all those types of things. It’s just, like, I can’t stand it.”
Erika responded with compassion: “This is the time that you lean on people. I would have come out here. I know you had Covid, but I still would have come.” She also reminded Teddi, “You don’t need to be alone with your own thoughts because that rumination can get into a place where it’s just really heavy.”
The mental toll was compounded by the physical isolation of being sick with Covid. “I still can’t drive,” Teddi explained. “I felt like I was just stuck inside of this house and then I think COVID added to it … and I was like, ‘Holy [expletive], I haven’t felt like this ever ever in my life.’”
This emotional spiral comes after she publicly shared in April 2025 that her doctors had given her a “50/50 chance” of surviving her cancer. “I really like to have control, and this is completely out of my control,” she said. “And for the first time, I’m really scared.”
Thankfully, Paxlovid helped Teddi recover from Covid. “Now I can leave my house,” she said. “Yesterday I was like, okay, I’ll go get my nails, done. I got a pedi. So you know it’s what it is.”
