Teddi Mellencamp's Ex Edwin Arroyave Shares How They Handled Telling Their Kids About Her Stage 4 Cancer Diagnosis

Edwin Arroyave kept it real with his children about his estranged wife Teddi Mellencamp's cancer diagnosis.

On the Thursday, April 3 episode of The Eds podcast, Arroyave, 47, opened up about how he and the reality star, 43, told their three children about her stage 4 cancer diagnosis. He said that the former couple decided to be "upfront" with their children about everything that was happening.

"I would stay home with the kids and make sure they were confident and again make sure that they knew that and I was upfront with them [about] what was going on," he said, noting that the kids were "scared" and "concerned."

"I tried my best to again not sugarcoat it too much," he added. "I called it the way it was. It's like, 'Hey,
there's some tumors that your mom has in her brain.' And I said, 'It sounds worse than what it is, but this is what I think is, this is what we think is going to happen. This is sort of how we're going to deal with it, and this is why I'm confident that she's going to make it through.'"

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Related: Edwin Arroyave Reveals Where He and Teddi Mellencamp Currently Stand amid Their Divorce and Her Stage 4 Cancer Diagnosis

Arroyave said they felt it would be "better to be direct with them" than have them find out the news online.

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum welcomed her three children, Dove, 5, Cruz, 10, and Slate, 12, with her estranged husband, whom she filed for divorce from in November 2024. One month after announcing their split, Mellencamp thanked Arroyave in an Instagram post for opening her eyes to motherhood.

"I would never have known I wanted kids until meeting my amazing stepdaughter, Isabella," she wrote, referencing Arroyave's daughter from a previous relationship. "My love for her changed my life and 5 years later came Slate, then Cruz, and then our miracle baby Dove in 2020."

Mellencamp added, "I may be far from perfect but being a mother has been the greatest gift you could have given me."

Elsewhere in the episode, the entrepreneur opened up about how his wife's brain cancer diagnosis had changed their relationship. The Skyline Security founder recalled the moment he learned about Mellencamp's diagnosis and revealed that his first thoughts revolved around getting Mellencamp to feel "confident" about her prognosis as well as getting their relationship in a "good place" and ensuring their kids were okay.

When it comes to their separation, Arroyave acknowledged that Mellencamp's health struggles have helped them reconnect, but they are currently taking things one day at a time.

"The first thing is just making sure that we take care of this first and all that other stuff," he said of their relationship. "We'll see what happens with time. But for right now, it's just more of like, how do we take care of you? And how can we get you back to normal as fast as [possible]? That other stuff will figure itself out."

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