Teddi Mellencamp praised her father John Mellencamp as he received the Icon Award at the iHeartRadio Music Awards.
The legendary singer was honored with the Icon Award at Thursday’s iHeartRadio Music Awards.
“My dad, throughout my past journey, has been unbelievable,” the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills alum, who has been battling cancer since 2022, exclusively told Page Six at the Los Angeles event, adding that he “pretty much saved my life.”
She shared that her father came to her aid, traveling from Indiana to support her.
“He was out here for months with me in the hospital, taking care of me at my bedside,” Mellencamp shared.
She mentioned that her father’s care “goes to show who he is as a person.”
“He doesn’t do anything halfway,” she gushed, adding “And I think that’s why there’s no better person to get the Icon Award than my dad.”
The reality TV star expressed the same thoughts on stage, saying, “For me, ‘Longest Days’ has been the song that means the most,” she said in a tearful tribute, referencing her father’s 2008 hit.
“In it he sings, ‘But nothing lasts forever / Your best efforts don’t always pay / Sometimes when you get sick and you don’t get better / That’s when life is short, even in its longest days.'”
“It was a little over a year ago when I got sick. My life felt short even when the days in the hospital seemed to go on forever,” she told the audience, adding, “sometimes you get sick and you don’t get better.”
“He wasn’t going to let that lyric define my life,” she continued, sharing that John “stepped up, took control, fought for me, and pretty much changed my life. Saved my life.”
Mellencamp noted, “We’re celebrating the icon, the artist, a man the whole world knows is John Mellencamp, a man I get to call ‘Dad’ and my best friend.”
John then gave his lifetime achievement trophy to Mellencamp, saying, “I’m going to take this award and I’m going to give it to Teddi, so that’s yours.”
To note, Teddi Mellencamp first revealed her stage 2 melanoma diagnosis in October 2022 and has since undergone over a dozen surgeries.
