Scary Mommy

Scary Mommy is a website that produces content targeting mothers, which generally focuses on parenting, motherhood, current events, and pop culture. The site is owned by Bustle Digital Group and the website is based in New York City, in the United States.

History
Scary Mommy was founded in March 2008 by Jill Smokler in Baltimore, Maryland. A companion book titled Confessions of a Scary Mommy was published by Smokler in April 2012. Scary Mommy Nation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, was established by Smokler in 2013, which raised money for families that weren't able to afford a Thanksgiving dinner. In 2014, the website and its service earned its first Webby Award in the "Family/Parenting" category, which was then followed by additional Webby Awards in 2015 and 2018.

In February 2015, the website was acquired by Some Spiders Studios, with Smokler staying on as chief content officer. The acquisition allowed Scary Mommy to add an in-house studio with video producers, editors, staff writers, and other contributors to the website's staff.

Smokler left Scary Mommy in May 2018, when the website was receiving 80 million monthly visitors. Smokler left to create a different platform based on her new experiences. In 2020, Some Spider Studios acquired Fatherly, and in 2021, Bustle Digital Group acquired Some Spider.

Content
Scary Mommy originated as a parenting and motherhood blog by Jill Smokler. The blog incorporated the Scary Mommy Confessions feature, which enabled users to share anonymous messages related to motherhood. Scary Mommy also launched a channel on Snapchat's Discover feature in 2018.

In 2017, the site ventured into television production with the development of Lullaby League, a singing competition show focused on lullabies. The show was hosted by Jim O'Heir and aired on the Pop network. The same year, the site reported an average of 13.2 million monthly visitors in the United States.