Jill Smokler, best-selling author and the founder of the popular Scary Mommy blog, passed away on June 22, 2026. She was 48 years old when she succumbed to a long-term health battle. For the uninitiated, Jill documented her life as a mother through unfiltered, candid revelations on her blog. She later shut it down and moved on to her next blog venture, She’s Got Issues. Explaining the reason for the transition, Jill stated that she “got older and was no longer in the mommy phase of life.” Besides Jill’s blog writing, her split with her gay husband, Jeff Smokler was also a highly-publicised affair.
Jill Smokler stayed married to Jeff Smokler by keeping his homosexuality a secret for 15 years
Jeff Smokler began questioning his sexuality and realised that he was attracted to men two years into his marriage to Jill Smokler. She was the first person he shared it with, who kept the painful secret in her heart for 15 long years. Jill was initially sad to learn that she would have to let go of the man who was her world. She said that she couldn’t dissolve the marriage immediately after knowing about Jeff’s homosexuality, as she still could not process it and imagine a life without him. She stayed supportive towards him until their divorce. She stated:
“It has been so hard to keep this all in and so isolating. I knew the impact that keeping this for the past 15 years was having on me. I think it impacted my physical and mental health, and I think it impacted my relationships with friends and family.”
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