Jill Renee Smokler, a New York Times-bestselling author and founder of the parenting website ScaryMommy.com, passed away at home on Monday, June 22, after a two-year battle with glioblastoma.
The Pikesville resident, entrepreneur and social media influencer was 48.
“Jill Smokler changed my life when she gave me a chance to write for her at Scary Mommy,” writer and content creator Amanda Muchnok Mushro posted on social media. “She was the embodiment of women supporting other women, lifting people up, opening doors, and making you believe you belonged in the room. I will be forever grateful for her kindness, her generosity, her encouragement, and, of course, her perfectly written curse words. She left a mark on so many lives, and I know I’m just one of countless people who are better because she was here.”
A Boston native who grew up in Swampscott, Massachusetts, Smokler developed a national following in 2008 with the creation of her ScaryMommy.com blog, which humorously chronicled the trials and tribulations of modern-day parenting.
“When I started writing the blog, people weren’t entirely honest about how difficult motherhood could be,” Smokler told Jmore in 2019. “In general, parenting is difficult and we want to have a village of people we can feel support from. People were hungry for someone to be real about what it was like, and I filled that void. …
“I began the blog as a hobby,” she said. “It was before Facebook and Instagram, so it was a place for me to post cute pictures of my daughter and two sons. I started the blog not really understanding what blogging was or that anyone not related to me would be interested in it, but within the first year I realized I could really expand.”
Smokler, who graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in graphic design and psychology, wrote the bestsellers “Confessions of a Scary Mommy” (Gallery Books) and “Motherhood Comes Naturally (And Other Vicious Lies)” (Gallery Books).
Her website attracted more than 30 million site visits monthly, and Smokler also boasted a strong social media following. Scary Mommy won multiple Webby Awards.
Smokler spoke regularly about parenting matters on “Good Morning America,” “Nightline” “The Today Show” and CNN.
“What I built was something I loved, benefited from and really used as a consumer,” said Smokler. “You have to make sure you attach yourself to a business you really love and are committed to because it’s a lot of work. For me, Scary Mommy was my sanity when my kids were little. It’s where I went if something funny happened or I needed to vent. It was my lifeline.”
In 2013, Smokler started Scary Mommy Nation, a nonprofit that paid for Thanksgiving dinners for families unable to afford them, helping to feed tens of thousands of families across the country.
On the website of Sol Levinson & Bros, Smokler’s family wrote, “She gave a generation of mothers permission to be honest about the beauty and the difficulty of raising children, and built a community around that honesty that outlasted everything, More than anything she built, Jill was proudest of her three children. She was funny, fierce, generous, and entirely herself until the very end.”
Smokler is survived by her children, Lily, Ben, and Evan; her mother, Kathy Epstein of Baltimore; her father, Drew Epstein, and his partner, Sandy Jacobs, of Swampscott, Massachusetts; her brother, Matt Epstein, his wife, Bari, and their children, Maxwell and Gabriel, of South Orange, New Jersey; her best friend, Julie Bender of Olney, Maryland; and her dog, Leo.
A celebration of Smokler’s life will be held on Thursday, June 25, at noon at Sol Levinson’s Chapel, 8900 Reisterstown Road in Pikesville. The family asks that donations in Smokler’s memory be made to the Brain Tumor Network, 816 A1A North Suite 207, Ponte Vedra, Florida 32082
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