John Mellencamp gives sad update on daughter Teddi’s cancer battle

John Mellencamp shared that his youngest daughter, Teddi Mellencamp, isn’t doing well amid her battle with stage 4 brain cancer.

The 74-year-old musician appeared on the “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast Wednesday and brought up Teddi being “really sick.”

“It’s not f–king fun,” John said. “She’s got cancer in the brain, and she’s suffering right now.”

He then reflected on Teddi’s nature growing up.

“That kid used to call me up and I’d go, ‘Teddi, you can have a thought without asking me if it’s … you know, figure it out yourself,’” he recalled with a laugh. “You don’t have to ask me everything, you know?”

The “Jack & Diane” singer has five children — daughters Michelle, 55, and Teddi, 44, as well as younger sons Justice, 40, Hud, 31, and Speck, 30 — and admitted it wasn’t always smooth sailing raising them.

“Girls, at about 12 you lose them and then about 21 they come back,” he said. “I kinda lost mine.”

Teddi shared her stage 2 melanoma diagnosis in 2022 and has continued to update fans on her health.

After undergoing several procedures to address her cancer-related tumors over the years, she revealed in April 2025 that her cancer had spread to her brain and lungs and progressed to stage 4.

But Teddi gave a major positive update in October 2025, when she said her cancer was “gone” on her “Two T’s in a Pod” podcast.

“I had my immunotherapy yesterday and I did my scans and at this point there is no detectable cancer,” she shared.

“When they told me, I was in such shock,” she added. “I was like, numb. I’m still going to be having days when I’m feeling sick and stuff because I still am in immunotherapy, so I’m still fighting because you have to be.”

But she clarified that she wasn’t considered to be in remission.

“The way the [doctors] said it works, it’s like one year, then two years, then at three years you’re allowed to be considered … in remission,” she explained.