Teddi Mellencamp Isn’t Buying Lisa Vanderpump’s ‘Grieving Period,’ Find Out Why

Teddi Mellencamp doesn’t understand why Lisa Vanderpump continues to speak about how she was not in a good place to be filming a reality show when she and her co-stars filmed the ninth season of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills last year.

While Vanderpump did lose her brother Mark Vanderpump to suicide last spring, weeks before filming began on the Bravo TV reality series, her claims of grieving have been confusing to Mellencamp due to the fact that Vanderpump began filming the seventh season of her spinoff, Vanderpump Rules, at the same time.

During a new interview, Mellencamp said that while she understood that Vanderpump was still grieving when filming began on Season 9 of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, she doesn’t understand why she only struggled to deal with their show and not Vanderpump Rules.

As fans have likely heard, Vanderpump has been claiming the death of her brother deeply impacted her throughout production on Season 9.

“Here’s the thing. I’m not putting aside somebody’s grieving period or anything like that. I have tons of empathy, but she filmed three months of Vanderpump Rules prior to the Housewives filming,” Mellencamp said during her appearance on Everything Iconic with Danny Pellegrino, via OK! Magazine.

“I don’t think people really understand that but those are the facts,” she continued. “So she had the opportunity to realize okay this is too much. And we’re not being forced to film. We all have the same bosses, so I cannot imagine that if she didn’t want to, that she would be forced.”

Mark was found dead last year after an allegedly intentional drug overdose. Mark was Vanderpump’s only sibling and was the one who introduced her to her husband, Ken Todd. Following his passing, Vanderpump shared a tribute to Mark on Instagram and included a photo of the two of them at one of her Los Angeles restaurants.

Mellencamp joined the cast of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills last year for Season 8 and appeared to get along well with Vanderpump at the time. Then, during Season 9, things between the two women took a turn for the worse in a sneak peek at next week’s show; they come to blows during a cast dinner in The Bahamas.

In a preview clip of next week’s Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Vanderpump and the rest of the women are seen discussing the drama surrounding Dorit Kemsley and a dog she adopted from Vanderpump Dogs. While Kemsley was forced to find a new home for the pup after it left a gash in her husband’s face and began nipping at her small kids, Kemsley faced rumors of abandoning the animal.

After the issue became a hot topic around town, Vanderpump began pointing fingers at Mellencamp, claiming she was the one who had been gossiping about Kemsley, who she feuded with throughout the eighth season of the show.

Vanderpump also appeared to pin Mellencamp in the trailer for the season as she was seen holding up a series of text messages allegedly sent between Mellencamp and one of her employees.

To see more of Mellencamp, Vanderpump, and her co-stars, tune into The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Season 9 on Tuesday nights at 9 p.m. on Bravo TV.