Jill Smokler, the founder of Scary Mommy, died on June 22, 2026, at age 48.
According to a tribute published by Scary Mommy, Smokler died after a more than two-year fight with Glioblastoma.
She started Scary Mommy in 2008 with a very simple first post: "Here goes. Day One."
At the time, Smokler was a stay-at-home mom with three young children. What started as a personal blog eventually became one of the most recognizable parenting sites online.
Here are seven things Smokler accomplished during her career.
Smokler launched Scary Mommy in March 2008.
In a 2017 essay for TIME, she wrote that she was living in a new town with three kids under 4, a large dog and a husband who traveled for work.
She started the blog while her children were napping.
At first, she thought it would just be a place to write about her own family. Then strangers started reading and commenting, and it changed everything.
2. She Built a Place for Parents to Be Honest
View this post on InstagramScary Mommy stood out because Smokler was honest about the harsh truths of parenthood.
She wrote about the kind of days a lot of parents were having, but not always admitting to.
In her TIME essay, Smokler remembered finding other moms online who understood her. They were also struggling, yelling, burning dinner and wanting a break.
It made parents feel less alone without pretending everything was easy.
Scary Mommy did not stay a one-woman blog forever.
As the site grew, Smokler added ways for readers to submit their own stories.
According to TIME, she said that change helped turn the site from her personal journal into a community of "imperfect parents."
4. She Sold 'Scary Mommy' to Some Spider Studios
View this post on InstagramSmokler also turned Scary Mommy into a business.
In her TIME essay, she wrote that she sold the company to Some Spider Studios in 2015, seven years after starting it.
After the sale, she stayed on as editor-in-chief and continued overseeing the content side of the site.
By that point, Scary Mommy had grown far beyond the small blog she started at home.
Smokler wrote that the site had gone from publishing a handful of posts a week to about 20 a day.
Smokler also brought the Scary Mommy voice to books.
According to People, she wrote two New York Times bestsellers: Confessions of a Scary Mommy, published in 2012, and Motherhood Comes Naturally (and Other Vicious Lies), published in 2013.
6. She Took Her Message to National TV
Smokler's work eventually reached audiences beyond the blog and books.
She appeared on programs including Today and Good Morning America.
Those appearances helped introduce more people to Scary Mommy and to the kind of parenting conversations Smokler had been having online for years.
By then, she had become a familiar voice in the parenting space.
7. She Kept Being Honest Until the End
Smokler publicly shared her glioblastoma diagnosis in May 2024.
According to People, she wrote at the time, “Glioblastoma was not on my 2024 bingo card, alas here we are. Life changes fast, friends."
After her diagnosis, Smokler said that she wanted to spend time with her children, ideally at the beach.
Her family remembered her in a statement shared by Scary Mommy and People, saying she spent her life telling the truth about motherhood and that she was proudest of her three children, Lily, Ben and Evan.
Smokler built Scary Mommy because she was honest about motherhood when many people still felt pressure to make it look easy.
Many parents recognized themselves in that.
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