Teddi Mellencamp breaks down in tears asking if cancer diagnosis was 'payback' for her alleged affair

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Teddi Mellencamp has opened up about the rumors surrounding her alleged affair with her horse trainer, Simon Schroeder.

In a new interview, the 'Real Housewives of Beverly Hills' alum also revealed how the events in her personal life made her question whether her cancer diagnosis was somehow linked to her past actions.

Teddi Mellencamp opens up about pain from alleged affair with Simon Schroeder

On the second half of 'The Jamie Kern Lima Show' podcast, released Tuesday, August 5, Teddi Mellencamp addressed the alleged affair, which first made headlines at the end of 2024.

"I've never talked about it at all, just because of the kids, and I've never wanted anybody to have a guarantee whether it happened or didn't happen. But what I can say is, did I do things that hurt other people? Yes," Mellencamp, 44, said as tears welled in her eyes.  

"To this day, does it still hurt my heart and I wonder if that's why I got cancer? Yes, like it was my payback," she added, referring to her stage 4 cancer diagnosis.

Speaking about the rumors, she continued, “However long it was … it was all over the press, it was everywhere. You’re trying to minimize everybody’s pain. You end up maximizing it."

She added, "Because now not only do you have yourself, you have your significant other, your kids, the other person’s significant other, their kids.”

Simon Schroeder and Teddi Mellencamp's marriages ended within months of affair rumors 

Simon Schroeder’s ex-wife, Karli Schroeder, filed for divorce on December 30, 2024, citing irreconcilable differences. The couple, who share two children, were married on April 14, 2024, and separated on September 22, 2024.

The divorce followed rumors, which surfaced in November 2024, alleging that Simon had an affair with Teddi Mellencamp amid her own split from Edwin Arroyave. Simon has never publicly commented on the affair allegations.

Mellencamp and Arroyave were married for 13 years before she filed for divorce on November 1, 2024, also citing irreconcilable differences.

However, the proceedings were paused in February 2025 after Mellencamp revealed her cancer diagnosis.

Teddi Mellencamp says she had ‘zero control’ over her actions 

In recent months, the two have remained on good terms, with Edwin Arroyave by Mellencamp’s side during her treatment.

“But I can say this from knowing — the wreckage doesn’t happen on its own… it never had happened to me. I think I was so broken as a human being during that part of my life that I did things out of my better judgment,” Mellencamp said on the podcast.

She recalled feeling both emotional and physical pain, adding, “I felt so much pain. I felt so sick. I didn’t go to the doctors. I just felt some certain kind of way."

Speaking about the unending pain, she added, "And the pain was so much that I had gotten to the point of like, almost hating waking up in the morning, which I had never been that kind of person.”

“But I do think a bunch of things happened in my life all around the same time, and I had zero control of any of them. Like I just was running around like a chicken with my head cut off,” Mellencamp said.