How Teddi Mellencamp Got Through This Season of ‘RHOBH’ While Pregnant And Sober

If you’re also feeling unsure about how to brace yourself for this new season of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, well, you aren’t alone. We spoke with Teddi Mellencamp who confirmed she also has “anxiety for what’s to come,” throughout Season 10.

We caught up with Teddi in between virtual school lessons for her kids, caring for her new baby Dove born in February, and discussing everything from the wild cast trip to Rome to her friendship with Kyle Richards and what she’s binge-watching with the family right now. Plus, and this is key, Teddi even let us know how she made it through such an intense season of the Bravo series while pregnant and sober.

Decider: How is Baby Dove?

Teddi Mellencamp: She is good. Our new normal has been her normal [laughs]. We’re doing well, I’m really grateful that I did have her when I did so that my husband could be in the delivery room with me, so I’m not forgetting that.

How has quarantine life been, anything you’re watching with the kids or arts and crafts projects you’re doing?

We brought it back! We started getting obsessed with Shrinky Dinks, those were the little things that I did when I was a kid, where you color them and put them in the oven and it gets super small, so we love that. We started watching The Voice from Season 1, we never watched it before. You want to find good family shows and we’d already watched The Masked Singer. With work and virtual school and a newborn, life is pretty hectic around here but we’re doing the best we can.

It’s funny to see in the first episode that you announce your pregnancy and to see where we are now. Were you excited to tell the other ladies and did Kyle push you to announce it? 

Yes! Because I was like, this is your dinner! That’s why I’m kind of awkward when I’m telling everybody because I’m like, this is about you, I don’t want to try to make it about me or anything like that. But it was so great to be able to tell everybody at once. Because oftentimes in this group, you tell one person and then they tell, it just spirals. And it was so fun to see the honest, real reactions when they all heard at the same time.

Also because the day before, we were ax throwing and riding bikes, we had so many things I was like, I can’t hide this much longer. There were drinks and everybody was taking shots and I was like, “Mmm, no.” We gotta get this out there, I can’t be doing water shots forever.

What was it like to be pregnant and not drinking with this group? Did you feel like you were missing out or were you glad to be sober?

I thought it was gonna be really hard because I was like, gosh, some of these dinners, they get long and we get drama and how am I gonna do this sober? But truthfully I was able to be really present. You know if you have a glass or two of wine or a margarita you kind of zone out? So it became the running joke at the end of anytime anything would happen, somebody would be like, “We’ve gotta ask Teddi what happened!”

What do you think of the new ladies in the group, Garcelle and Sutton?

Oh, Garcelle is fun, big personality, and it was fun getting to know her. I think you see in Episode 1, Sutton comes in hot. She comes in hot! So you’ll have to see how that plays out.

That was some shade when she said, “Teddi’s wearing a black romper.”

I was like, come on. I don’t think you can necessarily shade my black romper when we just saw that outfit you were wearing. I was like, huh, I don’t know. I wasn’t sitting on any thrones in any see-through clothing.

We see in the trailer that Dorit says “judgy wuzzy was a pregnant woman.” What can you tell me about that moment, were you being judgy?

YES! [Laughs] Of course! Anybody that pretends that they’re not judgy from time to time is obviously not telling the truth. There are moments you’re going to be judgy about stuff, it just happens. But I’d rather be somebody that says when I’m judging than says it behind somebody’s back.

We’re seeing some familiar faces popping in this season, I don’t know how many of them you’d met before.

Oh, Eileen I had never met until this year. She is so cool and funny and nice. I really loved getting to know her. I had never met her before. Sometimes you meet new people and they’re hard to talk to but she was so easy to talk to and so warm and kind and I really liked her.

Your friendship with Kyle seems to continue to get stronger, to what do you credit your bond? 

I think that we like each other’s sense of humor, we play off each other well. Even on text, we’re laughing all the time and we have similar interests. Also I think a big thing is we love doing things with our families together. Our families mesh really well together, our husbands are good friends, so I think all of that combined just leads to a great friendship because it’s not just one portion of our lives, it bleeds into everything.

Is it annoying to have the other women judge that?

It actually cracks me up. I’m like, what? A real, authentic friendship to you is so disturbing? Okay! [Laughs] I’m like, keep it coming. And I think they’re just waiting for me to blow, but I’m like, okay guys, it’s gonna be fine.

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We seem to be building towards a lot of drama, so were you on the Rome trip?

Yes, I did go on the trip. That was kinda the only time that I was bummed that I couldn’t drink because I was like this is the time to indulge! And I was like, nope, can’t.

One of my highlights of last season was in France when you got super drunk.

Thank you! I was so paranoid before that episode came out because you know in the random times you do have a not-remembering situation, you make it out to be so much worse in your head. Then I saw it and was like, so what! I was emotional and I tried to eat some chips! I called my entire family and warned them. I was like, I don’t know what happened, this could be the worst night of our lives. They were like, oh you were drunk stumbling around wanting chips, okay. I was cornering producers like, what did I say!

Is there more pressure when you’re sober that you have to take accountability for things and can’t be like, whoops I was drunk?

No, I mean, as much as I hate to give Camille Grammer credit, I am a little bit of a know-it-all in general and I think that’s whether I’m sober or drunk.

There are a lot of rumors swirling about, but have you spoken to Denise at all since that trip? 

We all texted; Kyle put together for us all to make a donation for masks that she sent as a group text and we all responded to that text, but I didn’t necessarily speak to Denise.

How about with the other women, are you staying in touch while we’re all isolated? 

Some of us have and I think everybody just knows…we all want to check in on each other and make sure we’re doing well but we also know what’s coming, so you do a little of both. Because there are certain things that were a huge deal at the beginning and then you work through them or maybe we haven’t. But we know, watching those confessionals back as they happen, it’s like, oh my gosh that’s how I felt in that moment. So it’s a constant, excuse my language, mindfuck, having to relive it all.

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Is there anything else you’re excited for us to see this season? 

I think the coolest part of his season, whether it ends up good or bad, is you see a lot more of us sharing. I feel like sometimes in my first two seasons, it felt like everybody had their guard up a little bit, including me. But I feel like we’ve all let our guards down a little and I’ve really gotten to know some of the women so much more and seen a different side of them and it’s really been great. Obviously as you see more sides to people there’s more drama because then there’s more opinions, but it also brought a lot of awareness to our friendships. It doesn’t feel like such surface friendships.

In the first episode everybody is getting along, does that make you nervous knowing it won’t last or do you try to enjoy the moment? 

I think we’re all such big personalities, so whenever you put a lot of big personalities together, there’s gonna be fireworks. It may not happen right away or in that actual dinner but somebody’s not saying something that they want to say and when it does happen, it’s gonna blow. You’re excited that you have a nice night but you’re also like, oh no I feel like something’s coming. You can tell if there’s one passive-aggressive comment, you’re like, oh no, this isn’t the end of this.

In trying to figure out my thoughts about the season, I realized I’m excited but nervous. How do you feel about it all? 

It’s so crazy because of course I’m nervous. I have anxiety about what’s to come and every time I see another little clip I’m like, oh my gosh, that’s what was happening behind my back or whatever these things are that come up. But I have to take it one day at a time and be like, okay when I signed up for this I signed up for the good, the bad, and the ugly. I just have to take it each day because you can’t control it, you can only be yourself and if you’re not yourself then what’s the point of doing it?

And you get to show Dove someday, there you were at New York Fashion Week and in Rome! 

I know, she’s been to so many places! The only person that knows all the history of this season is Dove! She knows it all and Lisa Rinna came over to meet her [before social distancing] and I was like, she knows your voice well!

The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills airs Wednesday at 8pm ET/PT on Bravo. 

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