Teddi Mellencamp has spoken out for the first time about her rumored affair with her horse trainer.
In November 2024, news first broke that former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Mellencamp, 44, was allegedly having an affair with her horse trainer, Simon Schroeder, who was married with two children. An insider told PageSix at the time that the affair was what led to her filing for divorce from Edwin Arroyave. Weeks later, Schroeder later filed for divorce from his wife on December 30, 2024, according to court documents obtained by People.
On Tuesday’s episode of The Jamie Kern Lima Show podcast, Mellencamp tearfully discussed the rumors and why she never addressed them.
“I’ve never talked about it at all, just because of the kids. And I’ve never wanted anybody to have, you know, a guarantee whether it happened or didn’t happen,” she said. “But what I can say is, did I do things that hurt other people? Yes.”
“To this day, does it still hurt my heart, and I wonder if that’s why it got cancer? Yes, like it was my payback,” the former Bravo star continued.
Mellencamp was first diagnosed with melanoma in 2022. Her condition advanced to stage four in February this year and metastasized to her lungs and brain, resulting in major brain surgery and the removal of four tumors. Last month, she revealed her decision to stop the immunotherapy treatment she was receiving after her surgery due to the side effects she was experiencing.
Mellencamp grew emotional reflecting on the alleged affair during her conversation with Lima.
“It was all over the press, it was everywhere,” Mellencamp said. “And you know, you’re trying to minimize everybody’s pain, you end up maximizing it. Whereas, if you feel like you could just open up, because now, not only do you have yourself, you have your significant other, your kids, the other person’s significant other, their kids.”
Mellencamp and Arroyave — who share three children — were married for 13 years before the reality star filed for divorce November 1, 2024, citing irreconcilable differences in court documents obtained by People.
The divorce proceedings were later paused in February, following Mellencamp’s stage four cancer diagnosis.
“I mean, so many people are hurt in the wreckage,” Mellencamp said on the podcast, discussing the aftermath of the rumors. “But I can say this from knowing, the wreckage doesn’t happen on its own.”
“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.”