Scary Mommy Founder Jill Smokler Dead at 48

Jill Smokler, who turned candid confessions about parenting into the influential site Scary Mommy, has died at 48. In a statement shared on Scary Mommy's website, her family said she died on Monday after more than two years with glioblastoma, an aggressive brain cancer, reports People. "Jill spent her life telling the truth about motherhood ... and in doing so, she gave millions of women permission to stop pretending and feel a little less alone," they wrote, adding that she was most proud of her three children, Lily, Ben, and Evan.

Smokler launched Scary Mommy in 2008 from her Maryland home while raising three kids under 4, starting with a simple first post: "Here goes. Day One." The blog grew into a major online community for parents and helped define a frank, humorous style of talking about motherhood. She later penned two New York Times bestsellers, Confessions of a Scary Mommy and Motherhood Comes Naturally (and Other Vicious Lies), as well as showed up often on such shows as Today and Good Morning America.

Entertainment Tonight notes that Smokler stepped away from Scary Mommy for good in 2018. Smokler, who once compared her illness to an "octopus with tentacles," publicly disclosed her diagnosis in May 2024, writing, "Life changes fast, friends." Her family suggests donations in her memory be made to the Brain Tumor Network, per People.