John Mellencamp Arranges Daughter’s Burial Ahead Of Time – Heartbreaking

Teddi Mellencamp’s health battle has taken a serious turn, and her dad, music legend John Mellencamp, is already making sure she’ll be resting peacefully—right next to family. During the April 8 episode of her Two Ts In A Pod podcast, Teddi opened up about her ongoing fight with melanoma, and how her father recently surprised her with an unexpected phone call.

“Let Me Live a Little!”

“Yesterday my dad calls 11 times in a row,” the 43-year-old recalled. “Finally, I answer. I’m like, ‘I’m in the bath! Let me live a little, let me enjoy.’ He goes, ‘I just want to make sure you’re going to be in our group family mausoleum.’” Shocked, her co-host Tamra Judge responded, “Wait, wait, wait. He did not!” “Oh yes, he did,” Teddi laughed.

The Mausoleum Map Is Already Drawn

Teddi, who was diagnosed with melanoma in 2022, joked that she hadn’t even committed yet, but her dad already had the whole plan mapped out.

“He’s like, ‘Well, there’s going to be the top five, and then we’re going to have little areas around it, and then that’s where everyone’s going to get buried.’ And I go, ‘Do I need to make this commitment right now?’ And he goes, ‘Well, you’re doing your will right now, so you may as well put it in there.'”

Teddi, who shares three children—Slate (12), Cruz (10), and Dove (5)—with her estranged husband Edwin Arroyave, had concerns about whether there’d be room for her kids, too.

Teddi’s Take: Humor in the Hard Times

Despite the heavy topic, Teddi still managed to find some humor. She shared that someone recently told her, “Hot girls never die.”
“I was like, ‘That’s going on my tombstone,’” she said, adding that she laughed so hard that she cried laughing.

Fighting for Her Life—and Her Family

Since her initial diagnosis, Teddi has been transparent about her treatment. In February 2025, she revealed doctors had found “multiple tumors” on her brain. After surgery to remove two, she updated fans again in March, sharing she now has tumors on her lungs.

“The doctors are hopeful that immunotherapy will effectively treat them,” she shared. In an April cover story with Us Weekly, Teddi revealed that four more brain tumors had been found. “I’m fighting for my life,” she said. “But also for my family’s life and all the people I love.”