Teddi Mellencamp Opens Up About Dating Apps Amid Cancer Battle

Teddi Mellencamp is navigating dating while dealing with two major life challenges: her divorce from Edwin Arroyave and her ongoing battle with Stage 4 cancer.

Teddi Mellencamp Shares Candid Dating App Strategy

In the Aug. 12 episode of “The Jamie Kern Lima Show,” the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” alum revealed that one of her go-to dating apps is Hinge — and she doesn’t hide behind a fake name or misleading photos.

“Well, I did, at first, not have my bald photo up, and then I was like, now I’m having to explain to everybody,” Mellencamp said, referencing her cancer treatment. “[Not that] I’m having to explain to thousands and thousands of people, but once they ask you out, then I’m like, ‘So, do you want the code reds?’”

Mellencamp added that she can often tell if a conversation will fizzle within about five messages.

“For a while I wasn’t checking it at all, but most of the time you get a rose or something, which means then I would have to write the thing, and I’m not gonna do it,” she said. “You have to be reaching out to me, and you have to have something funny, or that’s it. That’s all I got.”

Rejection from Raya & Life Updates

When it comes to other dating apps, Mellencamp said she can “barely keep track” of Hinge alone. She admitted to applying for Raya, an exclusive platform for celebrities, but was not accepted.

“What’s more,” she shared, “neither was my former castmate b. We don’t know why. Were we controversial? Like, why didn’t we get in? Are we too old? Is it because I’m not an Insta-model? [whispers] Why didn’t I get in?”

Mellencamp said she never received a reason for the rejection but noted that on Hinge, she rarely encounters anyone familiar. “I’ve never looked at Hinge and been like, ‘Oh, I know him.’ Never once.”

In June, Mellencamp was linked to a “mystery man,” but by July 11, she confirmed the relationship had ended. “It started getting to the point where it was starting to get a little bit more serious,” she explained. “And I was like, ‘I don’t have the capacity for this right now’… There’s nothing that he did or anything like that. Nothing dramatic happened.”

Her divorce from Arroyave is currently on hold due to her health battle. On another episode of the podcast, Mellencamp admitted she isn’t sure how to define her current relationship status with her estranged husband.

“Well, I don’t know what to call it,” she said. “What do you call it when you’re on a divorce, and then somebody gets cancer, almost passes away, so then you have to put it on hold. Hold? Hold sounds worse than a break. There’s no good answer. I mean, I could just say husband, but then people are like, ‘You’re married?’ Well, yes, but.”