Teddi Mellencamp got a neck lift: ‘I am being transparent with my journey’


Teddi Mellencamp used to be a cast member on the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. She got the gig because she’s John Cougar Mellencamp’s daughter, but she’s also a diet and life coach, which fits in with their whole aesthetic. Teddi still has her diet training business and also a podcast, Two Ts in a Pod. Teddi’s ‘deal’ is transparency. She’s always telling her followers about her weight struggles, her IVF and that she had her boobs done when they got ‘deflated’ after breast-feeding.

Teddi decided to be honest with her followers once again, only this time, some of her fans called bs. Teddi filmed a Q&A to her IG stories about the fact that she’s decided to get a chin-lift because she’s always hated the loose skin under her chin. It’s genetic, she has a doctor on film saying so, but it’s been an insecurity of hers and she decided to do something about it. Teddi took questions, filmed her pre and post-surgery and into recovery. A follower DMd her and said it was false advertising to coach people through weight loss and then get cosmetic surgery that most people can’t afford. So Teddi asked her IG followers what did they think, should she have been upfront or no?

Teddi Mellencamp Arroyave is an open book when it comes to her cosmetic procedures.

The former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star, 40, hopped on her Instagram Story on Monday to defend her decision to get a neck lift. “So I’m going through my DMs doing a little work for Two Ts in a Pod, and someone sent me a message. I want you guys to read it and let me know your thoughts,” said Mellencamp.

The podcast host then shared a screenshot of her answering the Instagram user’s message, which read, “Ur a public figure trying to help women loose [sic] weight yet your getting a face lift to remind those of us who need one who can’t afford one how ugly we are Thanku.”

“I am being transparent with my journey,” Mellencamp responded. “Would you prefer I lie and pretend the loose skin on my neck disappeared? That’s not who I am. You want to only follow people that show themselves through a filtered version of themselves then I am not the person to follow.”

“(Btw, this has nothing to do with going all in on your life – I changed my life 7 years ago and am proud of that and will continue sharing and helping others achieve their goals),” continued Mellencamp, who then posed the question to her followers: “Do you appreciate me being open about my journey or would you rather I just pretend I did nothing?”

[From People]

I haven’t found responses to Teddi’s question online so I’ll give mine. I’ve long-said that I appreciate when a celebrity is honest about what it takes to look like they do. If you slogged through Teddi’s whole IG story on the topic, she says multiple times that her chin issue is genetic and not diet related. She also claimed she sought many other procedure options first. During the Q&A some people asked about things like cold sculpting. Teddi said she’d pursued it but it was an option for her. Then she offered other ideas for people looking to make changes. Teddi also emphasized this was something that has bugged her her whole life. She said she couldn’t look at photos of herself or could only turn a certain way on camera to feel good about herself. I don’t have a problem with it. I vote for transparency.

However, I do think there was an opportunity to talk about body ideals and how obtainable they are. At a certain age, skin loses elasticity and if you lose weight too quickly, the skin doesn’t have a chance to reshape. So a person’s only option for smooth skin is plastic surgery. Admitting that upfront would be transparency, especially if, like Teddi, you promote a diet that only allows between 500-1000 calories a day. I doubt we’ll ever get celebrity trainers to that level of transparency, though.


Photo credit: Instagram and Avalon Red

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46 Responses to “Teddi Mellencamp got a neck lift: ‘I am being transparent with my journey’”

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  1. Trina says:

    I think she looked fine before. I was expecting some big mess underneath her chin. But if it makes her happy, great.

    • BW says:

      Her “before” is what normal chins look like. I don’t see any turkey wattle.

      I do see tons of Botox and duck lips.

      I didn’t know who she was, except by her last name, so I assumed she was John Cougar’s ex-wife because I thought she looked older than 40 due to all the cosmetic procedures.

      • kelleybelle says:

        Imagine being so vain as to do this at age 40. And yes, back away from the lip fillers, please.

      • BeanieBean says:

        She’s his daughter. Oh, wait, that’s mentioned in the article. She’s naturally pretty & all that cosmetic stuff is not enhancing her looks, or preserving her youth, or whatever her overall goal is–to feel better about herself? Then what? Will she ever get to the point where she thinks, I’m OK?

  2. OriginalLaLa says:

    On one hand I think celebs absolutely need to be more transparent because normal people have no idea all the treatments/procedures etc they have done regularly to look the way they do..On the other hand, I’m getting annoyed with the insane levels of surgery/procedures on the faces in the media we consume – it’s getting harder to look at my 30s face and understand that aging is normal because every celebrity my age has the taut, shiny skin of an 8 year old.

    • emmi says:

      Do they look good though? I can’t even tell if I honestly think it looks good to me or if I’m just told it does.

      • OriginalLaLa says:

        I think we as a society have lost sight of what skin and un-touched faces actually look like. It’s worrying

      • Eurydice says:

        I don’t know. Maybe if there was only one of that face I’d think it looked good, but now everybody seems to have (or want) that same face – skin that looks like plastic, over-blown lips and an expression of blank astonishment.

      • emmi says:

        Friend of mine had something done a while back. A minor things and she insisted it was the only thing bothering her (I knew it wasn’t true, she’s just generally not on board with aging). So she had it done and frankly, I don’t see a difference but I do see the scar. As long as she is happy with that, it’s of course not an issue. But it reminded me that these rich/famous people don’t just do one thing. They have many many things done, not all of them invasive of course. It creates a whole look. My friend doesn’t look younger and now wants other procedures. I’m almost certain she wouldn’t look younger then either, just “done”. But I can’t tell her that and it’s not my place either.

      • The Nood says:

        Eurydice I absolutely agree with you. My family and I went to the Easter Show (in Australia) and we were astounded at how many females all looked the same. Females whose ages ranged from mid teens to mid forties, who all had big lips, fake long eyelashes, same hairstyle, same make-up. It was really creepy.

      • Lucy says:

        In this particular case? I thought it was Khloe Kardashian.

      • Shalla7 says:

        It’s in NYC too. I work at a high school and the majority of the students adopt the same look: bladed brows, duck lips (I guess just lipstick/gloss, not fillers yet–I hope!), thick make-up/foundation/base, false lashes/lash extensions. It amazes me how much they want to look like each other instead of trying for some individuality. I guess the herd instinct is tough to resist.

    • Juniper says:

      Lainey used to call it “LA Face”

  3. emmi says:

    What is the message here? Starve yourself and have a few procedures and you too can look JUST like this? Her diet plan is horrid. Sure, she’s honest, good for her I guess. I’m so over this whole online fitness-diet-wellness-mindfulness-juice-fast-crap. It’s the same thing being re-packaged every few years. Now we’re being “strong not skinny” and “honest”. None of it will make women healthier or happier. I recently tried to add all the hours, days, months, and YEARS I spent worrying about food and my body and I could have accomplished so much in that time. Or just have had more fun.

    • Jo says:

      🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼

    • Marcie says:

      Yep. Her diet is straight trash…and she doesn’t even have the guise of nutrition to support it.

    • Isabella says:

      Garcelle is the only Beverly Hills housewife who doesn’t have this face now. I watched last night and they were like a bunch of aliens talking to each other.

  4. Eurydice says:

    I don’t follow her; I barely know who she is – but, from this, it looks like her “journey” is to look like every other person on IG.

    • doxie says:

      I couldn’t care less about whether or not she had a chin lift or what she chooses to share, but “journey”? toward what? It’s not as if she had to get her skin removed due to melanoma.

    • Jules says:

      Ridiculous. I lost brain cells just reading about her “journey”. Trying to make plastic surgery into some sort of spiritual awakening or something.

  5. EllenOlenska says:

    I’m Totally Team Transparency here…her followers want to be like her…how awful if she implied weight loss was the reason for the tighter neckline…I appreciate every celebrity that owns up to what they have done. Doesn’t mean you have to choose it for yourself, does keep you from thinking Japanese potatoes are a cure.

  6. Mary Tosti says:

    At first I thought this was Megan Fox.

  7. Marisa says:

    As a RHOBH viewer, Teddi is just annoying and self righteous so that’s why the story has steam, people kind of enjoy disliking her, not undeservedly. Ultimately though, I just wish there were more beautiful, imperfect women that made an example by embracing their imperfections and living a happy, fulfilled like. Looks aren’t everything in real life.

  8. Christina says:

    She looks like she had a chin implant.

  9. NMB says:

    In instagram picture she posted she looks a bit like Khloe Kardashian. These procedures have made women all look the same. Kudos to her for being transparent though. It was so silly when celebs were like “oh, I just diet, exercise and drink water” to stay youthful and thin. Yes, those things absolutely help, but….. Honestly, I can’t decide if all the make up, filters, and procedures make people look older or younger. I don’t think society would say I’m as “beautiful” as this generic Hollywood/celebrity standard, but at least I look like my own person rather than everyone else. Do I wish I had fewer lines in my forehead? Absolutely. Am I nearing 40 and really starting to realize I’m aging? Yes. But I don’t want to risk looking like I’ve had work done and morphing into someone that I’m not.

  10. WiththeAmerican says:

    Has she admitted her lower facelift? Her nose job? Her eye lift? These people make me tired, wrapping up so much fakery and selling it to the world through filters.

    The old “admit one thing” but blame genetics game is older than dirt. I remember working with an actress who never tired of telling us her Botox was medically necessary because her forehead lines were “genetic” .

    yes, we all have those genetics. It’s called being a human being.

  11. Jessica says:

    She was more than unlikable on housewives. And her diet program has been called a starvation program by many of her clients. They say the goal is to eat as little as possible and work out as much as possible. Extremely unhealthy. She’s also super thirsty and will use any excuse for a headline…and I’m sure that’s what this was.

  12. olliesmom says:

    She looks like all of the others and I can’t tell any of them apart.

    Ah, to have the time and money this woman has.

    P.S. Love her dad.

    • justwastingtime says:

      It’s true that blondes of a certain age who all get the same plastic surgery end up looking the same.. I have to admit I get confused as to the names of a few people in my town I know superficially and have to be careful to refer to them correctly.

    • Jaded says:

      Read up on him. He’s a compulsive womanizing douche, a tempermental a-hole with a huge sense of entitlement. He was horrible to his ex-wife, carried on a very public affair with Meg Ryan while still married, and here’s a nice little bit to cap off his arrogance over his music career:

      “Well you know, as I’ve matured as a songwriter, I realize that if it’s out there, it’s mine. You know, everything I see and hear, I don’t care if Shakespeare wrote it, or Tennessee Williams wrote it, or if Bob Dylan wrote it, or I see it on a sitcom. If I hear words, they’re mine.”

      Oh, and he never showed at a big ‘birthday’ bash for him in Bloomington, IN when he turned 50. Admission was charged it was promoted heavily. He never showed and musicians in his various bands have described him as an enormous asshole.

  13. elcta says:

    I’ve looked into kybella and cool sculpting for a double chin that I’ve had skinny and now overweight. I don’t have a weak chin, just a fat pad right there under my chin. I was not a candidate due to having a goiter which at this point just makes the whole chin to chest area look like a swollen mess. A lift is all I could do and and it would just emphasize the goiter.I can’t justify the cost/ possible complications. So a little envious but I’m glad she was honest instead of pretending there was some other wackadoodle thing for me to try

    • Emma says:

      I have recently developed a double chin (I’m 41) and I just hate it. I would totally get a neck lift (? chin lift?) if I could afford it.

      I wish commenters on here would be a little kinder to aging women who make a personal choice about elective surgery for issues like double chins. It is rough to start looking so different from what you’re used to.

      • AlpineWitch says:

        I just hit 50 and due to the dieting and an eating disorder, my neck skin is all kind of loose now.

        I’d definitely get a neck lift if I could afford it (in UK it’s 10k, the cost of a small car).

  14. Luna17 says:

    No idea who this woman is but she looks like every other generic heavily altered rich LA lady. So sad that these women seem to base their whole life around diet, working out, surgery and Instagram. I’ll take some wrinkles and cellulite and actual interests and hobbies over this life any day.
    .

  15. kelleybelle says:

    Too much tanning has already aged her skin, big-time.

    • kerfuffles says:

      Cliche but true…the best beauty advice there is: protect your skin from the sun. It makes such a HUGE difference, and that difference becomes really apparent once your hit your 40s.

      I’ve been very good in my life about wearing sunscreen – except I’ve never been good about applying to it to the tops of my hands. The tops of my hands also got a lot of sun exposure when I was younger showing horses. Now, at 49, the difference between the texture and appearance of my skin on my well-protected face and my not-well-protected hands is stark. The sun ages skin soooooo much (and of course can also cause skin cancer).

    • BeanieBean says:

      Yeah, I noticed that on her chest. She’ll start doing some weird skin treatments next, count on it.

  16. Siobhan says:

    Is it any wonder that so many women get so much work done so young when women are torn apart for every perceived flaw? Even Kate Middleton – everyone here criticizes her Botox, but before then everyone was so cruel about her aging or lines on her forehead, etc. I do think people forget what a normal aging face looks like. Who cares if she has lines on her forehead, I’ll never understand why woman attack other woman for aging or their looks.

  17. Murphy says:

    Teddi is a very insecure person, she really needs to get some help for her body dysmorphia issues. (and stop spreading them with her predatory accountability diet plan)

  18. Lolalola says:

    oh damn I’d love to get a necklift but I’m in my 50s. I agree, I think it’s lovely when people are honest on their cosmetic surgery decisions (Talking to you Salma Hayek). It’s amazing to me how everyone is starting to look like a Kardashian–not that they invented that look but they are the Kosmetic Klan.

  19. Abby says:

    I will always prefer transparency. Hollywood is full of illusions. And if I could look that snatched from surgery, I probably would. Life is too short to feel ugly – if someone has the resources to help them in shedding that feeling, then go for it. The rest of us just have to practice radical acceptance, lol.

  20. skj says:

    I just wish the costs involved were revealed of these processes, surgeries, fillers, and treatments . that would give me some sense of attainability.

  21. JFerber says:

    Somehow she looks like Kate to me in that first picture. But Teddi probably has self-respect.

  22. Kim says:

    I’d totally get a face lift if I were wealthy. Who cares?