The trailblazing mommy blogger, who founded her famed site in 2008, died after a two-year battle with stage four glioblastoma
The blogging community is mourning the loss of a trailblazer. Jill Smokler, who founded her famed site Scary Mommy in 2008, died June 22 after a two-year battle with stage four glioblastoma, her brother Matt Epstein confirmed to Today.com. She was 48.
“Jill spent her life telling the truth about motherhood—that it could be wonderful and impossible in the very same breath—and in doing so, she gave millions of women permission to stop pretending and feel a little less alone,” Epstein wrote in a statement. “She was funny, fearless, generous, and entirely herself.”
Smokler’s brother emphasized that despite her accomplished online writing career, she was most proud of her kids Lily, 22, Ben, 18, and Evan, 16, whom she shared with ex Jeff Smokler.
Epstein added on behalf of Smokler’s entire family, “We are heartbroken to lose her, and endlessly proud of the mark she left on the world.”
Scary Mommy’s tribute
Smokler stepped away from Scary Mommy in 2018, but the media company shared a tribute for its founder on June 22, emphasizing the impact the documentation of her unfiltered motherhood journey had.
“Because of Jill’s vision, everyone here can still feel validated, understood and seen as they do one of the hardest things you can do: parent,” Scary Mommy wrote in a June 22 Instagram post. “It’s a tribute to her that our community is still thriving nearly two decades later.”
Her cancer journey
The former mommy blogger first shared her glioblastoma diagnosis in 2024, noting that she was “not great” as she processed the terminal illness.
“I’m doing pretty much how you’d expect,” Smokler told Today.com at the time. “I keep alternating between feeling so profoundly sad and so pissed off.”
In her final years, Smokler noted that her ex—whom she divorced in 2017 after he came out as gay—was a huge source of support, admitting her diagnosis brought them together in a “weird way.”
“We talk more and Jeff is very cognizant of what I will be missing out on,” she said at the time. “He’s helping me make the most of my time with the kids.”
While acknowledging her prognosis was deeply unfair, Smokler shared she was grateful to at least have time to spend with her family.
“It’s so ridiculously bittersweet,” she said. “I’m trying to focus on the sweet part.”
