Teddi Mellencamp will always appreciate her dad, John Mellencamp, despite their well-documented ups and downs.
John welcomed daughters Teddi and Justice with ex-wife Victoria Granucci in 1981 and 1985, respectively. The singer also shares daughter Michelle with ex Priscilla Esterline, and sons Hud and Speck with ex-wife Elaine Irwin.
In May 2024, Teddi shared that her relationship with her dad was strained growing up, but is now in a much better place.
“I think he always tried his best,” she said of her father’s parenting on an episode of the “Sibling Revelry with Kate Hudson and Oliver Hudson” podcast. “Do I think that we’re in a way better place now than when I was a kid? Yes, but also because I mean, I didn’t really understand the importance of a good relationship with my parents when I was a kid.”
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John has continued to support Teddi throughout her life, including her battle with cancer. Teddi shared in February 2025 that she had stage 4 melanoma that had metastasized to her lungs and brain.
“Dad. Thank you for saying yes you believe in me and know I can do it,” Teddi wrote via Instagram Story in March 2025. “Cried with happiness that I have your support.”
Keep scrolling to see what Teddi and John have shared about their father-daughter relationship over the years:
John Tuning into ‘RHOBH’ to Support Teddi
After Teddi announced she was leaving Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, John said in November 2020 that he was “terribly excited and happy” that she was exiting the show. John noted that he “tried to be supportive” and watch the show — but doesn’t “watch it anymore.”
“I think that it’s great and I think that some of the women on the show are fantastic,” he told Teddi on an episode of her “Teddi Tea Pod.” “But I don’t like people to know where I’m at, I don’t like people to know what I’m doing, I like to have privacy. That’s why I stick around my properties and don’t go anywhere.”
He’s ‘Most Proud’ of His Kids
In October 2021, Teddi interviewed her dad for Extra for his 70th birthday. During the episode, he couldn’t help but gush about how proud he was to have Teddi interview him.
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“The fact that I’m even sitting here talking to my daughter is a real success story in itself,” he explained. “I’m most proud of you kids. I’m proud of you kids because you could’ve turned out quite differently.”
John Being ‘Proud’ of Teddi for ‘Celebrity Big Brother’
John took to social media to congratulate Teddi on her Celebrity Big Brother appearance.
“A television show that Teddi is on premieres tonight,” he wrote via Instagram in February 2022, alongside a photo of himself with Teddi and her daughters Slate and Dove, whom she shares with ex Edwin Arroyave. (They also share son Cruz.) “I don’t know what she’s doing, but I’m proud of her and hope she achieves her goals.”
Teddi Opens Up About Not Talking With John for ‘a Couple of Years’
In May 2024, Teddi shared on an episode of the “Sibling Revelry with Kate Hudson and Oliver Hudson” that her and John had a strained relationship growing up after her parents’ divorce. Instead of “flying to Indiana” to visit her father every other weekend, Teddi would choose to stay home and hang out with friends.
“I probably really hurt his feelings doing that,” she explained. “I mean, there was one point — we joke about this conversation because it’s probably so traumatizing — but I got mad at him for something,” she recalled. “And he said, ‘You know what? F you, Teddi. I have other kids,’ and we didn’t talk for a couple of years.”
Teddi Crying Over Dad’s ‘Support’ Amid Cancer Battle
Teddi took to her Instagram Story to admit that she was crying “with happiness” that she had her dad’s “support” amid her battle with cancer.
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“Thank you for saying yes you believe in me and know I can do it,” she added.
John Making Teddi Laugh Throughout Cancer Treatment
In April 2025, Teddi said that her dad tried to call her 11 times in a row and when she finally answered, he had a question for her.
“Finally, I answer, I’m like, ‘I’m in the bath. Let me live a little,’” Teddi recalled on her the “Diamonds in the Rough” podcast. “He goes, ‘I just want to make sure you’re going to be in our group family mausoleum.”
Teddi said she replied that she has kids and didn’t know where they would go in the mausoleum.
“He’s like, ‘Well, there’s going to be the top five and then we’re gonna have little areas around it, and then that’s where everyone’s going to get buried,’” she continued. “He goes, ‘You’re doing your will right now, so you may as well put it in there.’”
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Later that month, Teddi clarified that his comments were made to make her laugh.
“My dad knows that I need, like, some comedy to this,” she explained to cohost Erika Jayne on their “Diamonds in the Rough” podcast. “His next quote or his next thing was like, all right, now we actually really do have to get talking serious, like we need to talk about your will and like your living trust and like, do the things we need to do, you know. … Sometimes I don’t want just someone to come pummel me.”
