Edwin Arroyave’s instinct was to take care of Teddi Mellencamp as she battles stage 4 cancer — despite their looming divorce.
“No matter what, I will always love Teddi and she’s been a big part of my life,” he said of his estranged wife on Thursday’s episode of “The Eds” podcast.
“And I just like taking care of people, it’s just what I do. So it wasn’t even like a question; it was reflexive.”
Arroyave, 47, explained that the most important thing was for him to get the “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” star, 43, to a place where she feels “confident” and not “alone.”
“I think her friends all stepped up, her family all stepped up and it helped me a lot,” he shared. “I wouldn’t have been able to do what I did if it weren’t for her friends and family.”
Arroyave shared that he and Mellencamp’s loved ones would take turns staying with the TV personality at the hospital.
“At the end of the day, when stuff like that happens, you don’t want to feel alone. You want to feel like you matter. You want to feel like there’s people rooting for you. And Teddi’s friends and family did that,” he said, adding how “grateful” he was for their help.
The businessman and Bravolebrity tied the knot in 2011 but Mellencamp filed for divorce last November. The now-exes share daughters Slate, 12, and Dove, 5, and son Cruz, 10. Mellencamp is also a stepmom to Arroyave’s daughter Isabella, 16.
In February, Aroyave and Mellencamp put their divorce proceedings on hold after the daughter of singer John Mellencamp revealed that doctors had to remove four tumors from her brain.
The next month, Teddi shared that her doctors discovered five more tumors in her body — three in her brain and two in her lungs.
Teddi, who was diagnosed with stage 2 melanoma in October 2022, confirmed this week that she has stage 4 cancer.
The “Two Ts in a Pod” co-host acknowledged how helpful Arroyave has been throughout her grueling cancer battle.
“I’m really lucky that Edwin, who I was in the middle of a divorce from, we put everything on hold,” she told Us Weekly in an article published this week. “[It] wasn’t really the time to be fighting over emails. He’s been extremely kind and helping with the kids. That’s made things a lot easier.”
Arroyave has been sleeping in their guest room while Teddi has remained in the primary suite of their home.
“It’s fun. It’s all the things that I loved about our marriage but without all the problems,” she joked of their situation.
While Teddi told the outlet that she is “fighting for [her] life,” she shared with her Instagram followers on Thursday the exciting news that she completed her last day of radiation — though she still has “five more rounds of immunotherapy to go.”
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