Jill Smokler, author and creator of Scary Mommy blog, dies at 48

Jill Smokler, who turned her tales of wrangling three small children in suburban Baltimore into a blog, website and books that made millions of mothers feel less alone, died Monday at age 48.

“It’s with broken hearts that we share that Jill passed away this morning, after a more than two-year fight with glioblastoma,” read a post on Smokler’s social platforms Monday. “She faced it the way she faced everything — funny, fierce, and completely herself."

Smokler’s death prompted an outpouring of grief and gratitude in the space where she spent so much of her life — online.

“She changed the world for moms and I was honored to live in it among her,” wrote parenting writer and speaker Joey Fortman. “Jill gave us a place to live through postpartum depression. A community of acceptance without apologies. A place to be brave and flip off the patriarchy.”

“She changed my life by giving me opportunities that she absolutely did not have to make available, but did anyway because that’s who she was,” commented author Julianna W. Miner. She described Smokler as an “online trailblazer, a foundational element in how social media and influencer culture were formed.”

Smokler launched Scary Mommy in 2008, after putting her graphic design career on pause to stay home with her three children: Lily, Ben and Evan.

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“Every little disaster, every mishap, that became a blog post,” Smokler told The Banner in 2025. “It was better than drinking a bottle of wine.”

While Smokler initially created Scary Mommy as a place to post photos and keep in touch with family and friends, her candid and humorous writing struck a chord with other mothers who saw their struggles, triumphs and messy mishaps reflected in her tales.

As the mommy blogging movement hit its heyday in the late aughts, Smokler emerged as a star, speaking at conferences, appearing in TV interviews and writing two books, including a New York Times bestseller.

While other bloggers later regretted sharing personal tales online, Smokler told The Banner last year that she was grateful she had created a lasting record of her children’s tender, quirky early years.

She largely recounted stories from her children’s baby and toddler years, before they would be concerned about the opinions of peers.

“I’m grateful in retrospect that I put them out there the way I did because it’s something they can hold onto,” Smokler said. “I’m leaving them with the two books, the audiobooks, where they can listen to me telling their stories, which seems really sweet.”

Her eldest child, Lily Smokler, said last year that her mother was able to juggle parenting and blogging with grace.

“At my brothers’ basketball games, she would be on the laptop in the bleachers,” she recalled. “She was so busy, there was always that emotional stability to make up for it.”

Smokler started a nonprofit arm of Scary Mommy and hired longtime friend Julie Bender, whom she had met on a playground, to run it.

“It was amazing to see how intuitive she was about how to help people, how hard she worked, how generous she is and also so humble,” Bender said last year. “She would downplay it: Oh, it’s just a little blog.”

In 2015, Smokler sold Scary Mommy to a media startup, touching off a difficult period in her life. She retained a role at the site, but grew increasingly frustrated with the new owners and left permanently in 2018.

Smokler also faced personal challenges. Her husband came out as gay in 2017 and their divorce made the cover the cover of People magazine. She struggled with her mental health and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2019.

She began carving out a new life as a single mother, purchasing an elegant mid-century modern Pikesville home, and cheering on her children in high school and college.

Then, in early 2024, Smokler had a seizure and was rushed to the hospital. The diagnosis was devastating: glioblastoma, a particularly lethal form of brain cancer. The average patient dies about 15 months after the tumor is detected.

“It pissed me off, because I sort of felt like I had these bumpy, bumpy years, and I was looking forward to my 50s just being nice and calm,” Smokler told The Banner.

With the support of her children, parents, close friends and ex-husband, Smokler strove to beat the odds, enrolling in a clinical trial in Germany.

Still driven by the desire to connect, Smokler became an enthusiastic user of the social media site Threads, cheering on strangers on the weddings, births and other milestones. She also offered support to those grieving and struggling with cancer.

In recent months, Smokler shared her struggles as her disease worsened. In March, she wrote that her left side was so weak that she could not stand, even with support from a walker. In May, she shared her despair in not recognizing her sons when they came to visit.

Smokler’s fans continued to offer encouragement as her health waned.

“Your kids are okay, I promise,” one wrote in response to one of Smokler’s final posts. “Because you do love them.”