Teddi Mellencamp reunited with childhood friend Shep Rose ahead of undergoing radiation to treat her cancer.
Mellencamp, 43, documented their reunion via Instagram on Monday, March 17, sharing that the pair were meeting for lunch. “We have known each other since 3rd and 4th grade,” she wrote via her Instagram Story. “You know he is a good friend when he is down to travel to Encino.”
The Real Housewives of Orange County alum posted a series of videos with Rose, 44, whom she affectionately teased while reminiscing about growing up in Hilton Head, South Carolina. “Teasing @relationshep was the perfect pre-first radiation thing I could think of,” she shared in another Story that highlighted a picture of the friends hugging and smiling big for the camera.
In one video upload, Rose, who stars on Bravo’s Southern Charm, told her fans that Teddi, who is the daughter of music legend John Mellencamp, “Had a great house on the beach, and we’d all ride our bikes over there and jump in the pool.” Meanwhile, she revealed that young Rose “had a Christmas party every year, and it was like, honestly, getting into the Met Gala. Like, we would check the list to see who would get in. … And then you felt bad because sometimes he wouldn’t put some of your friends on the list, and then you’d try to talk to [Rose], and be like, ‘Can you go ahead and put this so-and-so on the list?’”
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Answering a fan’s question about “how horny” Rose was as a teen, Teddi quipped, “I have no idea because I’m one of the only people in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, that did not make out with Shep.”
“That’s true,” he replied, joking, “That’s very unfortunate. I know that’s one of your big regrets.”
Teddi also posted a clip to her Stories wherein Rose answered another question about why he tried so hard to make his relationship with now-ex Sienna Evans “happen.”
“Well, I think it was coming off the heels, somewhat, of my relationship with Taylor [Green],” he explained, adding, “It’s fun to like somebody. … And then if it’s long distance, maybe you overestimate the feeling. It can be lots lost in translation. But we had some very, very nice moments together. And of course it wasn’t on television. But I had reasons to believe as strongly as I did. Trust me.”
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Teddi responded, “I don’t trust him and I’ve known him since I was 11.”
“That’s bull—-,” he said, smiling. “I don’t lie.”
Following their lunch, Rose posted a pic with Teddi on the Instagram grid, writing, “As soon as i saw teddi and gave her a hug we argued about where to sit. She then rather bluntly announced ‘i almost died and i still might – make a decision for once Shepard.’ We then proceeded to just laugh. We love dark humor and Teddi is the queen of it. So we ordered a loaf of bread (with oil and balsamic vinaigrette for dipping) and chicken parm pasta.’”
He added, “More laughs than anything. She has a keen interest and derives much pleasure in my misadventures . Which i think means that she loves me. 
.”
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Four days prior, Teddi referenced the Rose-Evans drama while bedridden from brain tumor surgery.
“I never freaking thought that I would be sad not to talk about Shep’s jacked-up relationship with [Evans, 24]. I cannot,” Teddi said on the Thursday, March 13, episode of her “Two T’s in a Pod” podcast. “Even from the hospital, I had to text Shep. I was like, ‘What are you doing? This is embarrassing.’”
It was Teddi’s first pod appearance since she announced in February that she needed surgery to remove tumors from her brain.
“I can say I’ve had some of my darkest, saddest days since … when this happened,” Teddi told cohost and former costar Tamra Judge. “I started, like, sobbing to [Tamra] and I’m like, ‘I need you to take me to the hospital right now. I think I’m dying. I can’t see, I can’t walk, I can’t even get out of bed.’”
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As she experienced debilitating headaches, Teddi’s estranged husband, Edwin Arroyave, encouraged her to get a CT scan at a local hospital. (Teddi and Arroyave, who share three children, separated in fall 2024.)
“The hardest part is that nobody wanted to tell me what was really happening because they were scared, and so I didn’t know what was happening,” Teddi tearfully recalled. “I thought I was fine. Like, I thought I could go home the next day, and, like, once the tumors are out, I thought I would be done. I can’t even tell you guys, like, I really didn’t understand anything and it was such a bummer.”
