Teddi Mellencamp is a health and wellness coach, reality TV personality and an ex cast member of the Bravo TV show Housewives of Beverley Hills.

GLP 1 is a medicine used to treat type 2 diabetes and now obesity by reducing appetite.

Here’s how this medicine works, GLP-1 receptor agonists (like semaglutide and tirzepatide) mimic the natural hormone GLP-1 to manage blood sugar and promote weight loss by slowing gastric emptying, increasing satiety, and curbing appetite. They work by stimulating insulin release, reducing glucagon, and influencing brain reward centers to decrease cravings, leading to significant calorie reduction and it’s big in Hollywood, really big.

Weight loss medicines have received a good deal of press and take up in the last couple of years but I’ve never seen a story explode in such a way around the world as when reality TV star and daughter of rock musician Jon Mellencamp, Teddi Mellencamp announced indignantly on her podcast a few days ago that her doctor had told her no, when she asked to be prescribed the medication.

Two T’s in a pod is the podcast of ex housewives Teddi Mellencamp and Tamra Judge who team up every week to Tell All. They watch and rehash everything from the Bravo franchise as only they can. “Who knows housewives better than housewives?! Right?!” They say.

Normally a chat/gossip experience for fans of the housewives franchise with lower ratings than Andy Cohen’s spin off Watch what happens live except news of Mellencamp getting pissed about being refused the medication after gaining weight thanks to steroids prescribed to combat stage 4 melanoma and having four tumours removed from her brain, has gone viral.

The reality alum quipped that she's a "health and wellness coach who's dying of cancer" to her podcast co-host Dolores Catania, who said her doctor should let her "go snort whatever"

I immediately thought after what you’ve been through who cares about a few extra pounds, get well and then lose the weight. But as Teddi says living her best life everyday she can’t do heavier in Hollywood, which is true when every magazine and media outlet is scrutinising everything. She’s had to contend with no hair, does she really have to deal with an additional 25lbs as well.

I guess the saddest part of this story is not the outrage it has caused, people slagging off Teddi as a narcissist saying they have no empathy for her which makes me wonder why not? When it’s the society we are all part of and the expectation in her world that creates the pressure to be body perfect even when you’ve been given a 50/50 of actually making it through.

Then there’s the doctor prescribing or not in this case, with a fiduciary responsibility to his or her patient. We’ve all seen what happens to the physician when then cave in to the demands of high profile people that then end up on the slab.

I am not a doctor and I have no idea how this weight loss diabetes medicine could interact with the intensive immunotherapy and related treatments for Stage 4 melanoma she has been undergoing since early 2025.

There is likely a good reason for the doctor to say no. However I can understand after everything why Teddi doesn’t want to feel fat as well.

Sure she could be stronger, care more about her body and what it can take (she is a heath and wellness coach professionally so we have to give a little credit surely) than what People magazine are saying about her on the red carpet. But in this completely unrealistic realm “in the Real Housewives world” where the way you look i.e. what’s on the outside accounts for 95% and your resilience, endurance and inner character only 5% looking great is very important and understandably if you don’t look great how can you feel great.

I hope Teddi will go back to her doctor, doing his or her best and explain how the side effects of the steroids are impacting her instead of blasting them on air on her show.

The conversation with Dolores Catania was about as light as when I heard a woman suggest she’d amputate her toes to fit into a pair of Manolo Blahniks or the men spending $50K-$250K on leg lengthening surgery, a massive undertaking to give them an extra few inches.

For me this is not a surprise Teddi Mellencamp would desire a miracle pill or potion to help her lose the weight gain from the cancer fighting medication she’s needed to get to a place after 17 surgeries (yes you read that correctly 17 surgeries) where no cancer is detected. Not yet in remission, only after 2-3 years of being clear of cancer you are considered in remission. And I certainly wouldn’t think to judge her for wanting it, her body, her choice.

I do think in our desire to see perfect and anything less than being castigated and thrown aside (and in that I don’t mean taking a pride in your appearance and your grooming) we have all certainly lost perspective on what is really important and maybe all that stress and pressure might have something to do with many of us getting sick in the first place.