Teddi Mellencamp Gets Matching Tattoos with Kyle Richards amid Cancer Diagnosis: ‘Perfect Match’

• Teddi Mellencamp and Kyle Richards got matching tattoos
• The former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills castmates have been open about their strong bond
• In April, Mellencamp shared she was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer after her melanoma metastasized to her brain and lungs.

Teddi Mellencamp and Kyle Richards are commemorating their friendship.

The former Real Housewives of Beverly Hills castmates celebrated their friend Jennifer Turner Leipart’s birthday by getting matching tattoos. On Thursday, April 10, Richards, 56, shared photos from the gathering on Instagram, the first of which shows the group gathered on the couch.

“Cozy night in wearing our pajamas ,” Richards wrote in the caption. “Perfect way to celebrate @jennleipart who’s an amazing friend to all .”

In a second image, Mellencamp, 43, is seen getting a tattoo on her arm while wearing blue satin pajamas. The last slide is a black-and-white photo of Richards, Mellencamp and Leipart’s matching arm tattoos: a small match with a flame.

“And of course we had to include the talented @wyldwess to our girls only night ,” Richards continued in the caption, tagging the Los Angeles-based tattoo artist responsible for the designs. “We love our new tattoos! A perfect match! Yolo ”

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In April, Mellencamp revealed that her cancer had reached stage 4 after her melanoma, with which she was first diagnosed in 2022, metastasized to her brain and lungs. 

“I kinda thought that I had already beaten it,” she said in a video shared to Instagram Stories. “And then a couple days later, I found out I had four more tumors. So there’s so many different highs and lows.”

While emceeing the Melanoma Research Foundation’s 23rd Annual New York City Gala in October 2024, the Mellencamp opened up about how Richards “forced” her to get her skin checked, which ultimately led to her diagnosis.

“I’ve spoken in the past about how my friend Kyle Richards forced me to go to that doctor’s appointment. We were on a run, and she said, ‘Your back looks a little different,’ ” she shared in Instagram post from her speech at the event, which helps raise funds to support melanoma education programs, fund research grants and aid federal and state-level advocacy initiatives.”

“The truth [is] if she hadn’t forced me to go to that appointment, I don’t know that I’d be up here having this conversation right now, but she saved my life,” continued Mellencamp. “And as someone with a platform, I know I can use my pain to pay it forward to help others avoid theirs.”

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Mellencamp exited The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills after season 10, but appeared as a guest in seasons 11, 12 and 13. Ahead of the release of the season 14 trailer in October 2024, she confirmed to PEOPLE that she would not be appearing in the upcoming season of the Bravo series.

“I really feel like I’m in a place where, unless an event is truly important to one of my best friends, that I’m there to support them, I don’t feel the need to go in that capacity,” she shared.