Jill Smokler, the mommy blogger behind the site Scary Mommy, died on Monday after a two-year-long battle with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.
She was 48. Smokler’s family announced her passing on her website on Monday.
“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,” her family wrote.
“She was funny, fearless, generous, and entirely herself. More than anything she built, Jill was proudest of her three children, Lily, Ben, and Evan.”
“We are heartbroken to lose her, and endlessly proud of the mark she left on the world,” the statement concluded.
The Massachusetts-born writer became a mainstay of the mommy-blogging community after her blog, Scary Mommy, gained runaway success following its launch in 2008, with its first post reading, “Here goes. Day One.”
She turned that success into two New York Times bestsellers, Confessions of a Scary Mommy and Motherhood Comes Naturally (and Other Vicious Lies), in the early 2010s, and became a voice for moms everywhere, often appearing on shows like Good Morning America.
The mother of three was diagnosed with glioblastoma in 2024, writing on Instagram at the time, “Glioblastoma was not on my 2024 bingo card, alas here we are. Life changes fast, friends.”
In an Instagram post following the announcement of her death, her family requested that instead of flowers, people make donations in her memory to The Brain Tumor Network.
Smokler is survived by her children, Lily, Ben, and Evan, and her ex-husband, Jeff Smokler, from whom she separated in March 2017.
