Teddi Mellencamp has a bone to pick with the dating app Raya.
“Excuse me, Raya, why am I still on the waitlist? I have five referrals,” Mellencamp, 43, exclusively joked in her Luxury Handbag Shopping cover story, on newsstands now. “I realize that, maybe, I’m slightly controversial, but I’d appreciate you letting me in ’cause I’ve seen some of the other people [on there] and they seem like even bigger trainwrecks than me.”
Mellencamp filed for divorce from her husband of 13 years, Edwin Arroyave, in November 2024. Together, they share daughters Slate, 12, and Dove, 5, as well as son Cruz, 10. (Arroyave, 47, is also father to daughter Isabella, 16, from a past relationship.)
As Mellencamp and Arroyave navigate coparenting their children, the former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills personality started dating again thanks to the app Hinge.
“There’s only been two guys I’ve actually gone on dates with,” Mellencamp told Us, joking she wouldn’t “listen” if Arroyave gave any dating advice. “The first [person on Hinge] asked me if I wanted to have more kids, and I was like, ‘I’m in the hospital. This isn’t really the right time, bud. I have a head wrap on. I just learned my own birth date.’ But the other guy is super nice, super sweet, kind — exactly what I need right now.”
Mellencamp revealed in February that doctors found multiple tumors on her brain, which required emergency surgery to remove. The procedure successfully took out a handful of tumors, more of which are being treated via radiation and immunotherapy.
“I’m fighting for my life,” Mellencamp said in her cover story, which took place on March 24, two days before four additional tumors were discovered in her brain on March 26. “But, also for my family’s life and all the people I love.”
According to Mellencamp, her cancer battle is “definitely the hardest thing” she’s faced in her life.
“Now, it feels less hard. When I was in the ICU, it was incredibly difficult because I had no memory,” Mellencamp recalled to Us. “One day, I realized it was my daughter’s birthday, and I couldn’t be there for it; it was really sad. It’s still sad when I can’t be there for my kids the way I’d normally be.”
Mellencamp further revealed that her children have started to understand her illness.
“They realize when I’m in pain and how massive the surgery was. I don’t know that they know the rest,” she said. “I think they’re a bit scared. I’m going to fight really hard. I can’t imagine my life without them, so I’m going to do everything I possibly can, no matter how mean it makes me. I can’t imagine — does this sound like a narcissist? — any of them living without me.”
With reporting by Amanda Williams
For more on Mellencamp, watch the exclusive video above and pick up the latest issue of Luxury Handbag Shopping — on newsstands now.
