Teddi Mellencamp 'really upset' by online comments about her hair
The 43-year-old reality star has been battling stage four melanoma - which has metastasised to both her brain and lungs - and she has undergone surgery, radiation and immunotherapy as part of her treatment, which caused hair loss, and Teddi has now admitted a cruel online comment about her appearance sent her into a downward spiral.
She told Glamour magazine: "With the hair, it's weird the things that would upset me. People would write to me: 'Why did you shave your head?'
"I remember getting really upset by it because I'd be like: 'I lost my hair. I shaved the parts that I didn't lose' ...
"Those little comments can sometimes get to you ... For a stranger to write to me on the internet and say: 'Why would you shave your head? You were so pretty with long hair' It would hurt me inside."
Teddi went on to add: "One, this wasn't a choice. Two, why would you write that? Now I just really don't have the patience for it.
"Some days I'm having a cute shaved-head day, and I don't want to wear a wig. And some days, I'm like, This is absolutely a wig day. Today was a wig day."
The former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills cast member went on to admit she's "gotten pretty used to being bald" but went she initially worried about her appearance when came out of hospital after surgery.
She explained: "Thankfully, I've gotten pretty used to being bald. I remember just getting out of the hospital and thinking that I needed a spray tan. And I colored my hair ...
"These are the things that you do. There was so much of my identity tied to how I physically looked. Now it's more tied to how I physically feel."
Teddi recently told fans she's starting to see her hair start to come back and even shared before-and-after images on Instagram showing visible regrowth over a month-long period.
In the post, she wrote: "It's amazing what my body can do ... I noticed a real change in my hair regrowth.
"Cancer comes with so many emotions: anger, sadness, loneliness. And while I feel grateful that immunotherapy is saving my life, I feel like I live in a fog, and I can't help but beat myself up on all of the ways I am falling short. I just desperately want to be back to my usual self."
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