Teddi Mellencamp shared praise for her father, John Mellencamp, as the legendary singer was honored with the Icon Award at Thursday’s iHeartRadio Music Awards.
“My dad, throughout my past journey, has been unbelievable,” the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” alum, who has been battling cancer since 2022, exclusively told Page Six at the Los Angeles event, adding that he “pretty much saved my life.”
She added that the “Jack & Diane” hitmaker, 74, “swooped in” to help his famous daughter, despite the fact that he lives in Indiana.
“He was out here for months with me in the hospital, taking care of me at my bedside,” she shared.
The Bravolebrity said that her father’s care “goes to show who he is as a person.”
“He doesn’t do anything halfway,” she gushed. “And I think that’s why there’s no better person to get the Icon Award than my dad.”
The 44-year-old reality TV personality echoed those sentiments while taking the stage on Thursday to present the Icon Award to John.
“For me, ‘Longest Days’ has been the song that means the most,” she said in a tearful tribute, referencing her father’s 2008 hit.
“In it he sings, ‘But nothing lasts forever / Your best efforts don’t always pay / Sometimes when you get sick and you don’t get better / That’s when life is short, even in its longest days.’”
“It was a little over a year ago when I got sick. My life felt short even when the days in the hospital seemed to go on forever,” she told the audience, adding, “sometimes you get sick and you don’t get better.”
“He wasn’t going to let that lyric define my life,” she continued, sharing that John “stepped up, took control, fought for me, and pretty much changed my life. Saved my life.”
“We’re celebrating the icon, the artist, a man the whole world knows is John Mellencamp, a man I get to call ‘Dad’ and my best friend.”
John then handed his lifetime achievement trophy to Teddi, saying, “I’m going to take this award and I’m going to give it to Teddi, so that’s yours.”
Teddi initially divulged her stage 2 melanoma diagnosis in October 2022 before undergoing more than a dozen surgeries, including an emergency procedure in 2025 to remove multiple tumors in her brain as the disease metastasized and spread to her lungs.
In October, she said the cancer was gone, though it’ll be potentially years before doctors are able to clear her as officially being in remission.
Through it all, her dad — who welcomed Teddi with ex-wife Victoria Granucci — has been a support.
He shared in January that the TV star was “suffering” as she battled the illness, saying on an episode of the “Joe Rogan Experience” that “It’s not f–king fun.”
Also in January, the rocker told “Today” show viewers that he was “try[ing] to talk her into” moving to Indiana from her home in Los Angeles so he could attend to her full time. However, he said at the time, she “won’t do it.”
Instead, the devoted father said he would “go out to [California] and see” her.
