The mother of a beloved author whose death by suicide was announced Wednesday has spoken of the family’s devastation, adding that they take comfort in their faith and the knowledge of her impact on her fans.
Heather B. Armstrong, 47, pioneered the “mom blog” in the early 2000s and went on to build a successful career as an author, drawing on her own experiences as a mother of two girls and her struggles with alcohol and depression in mapped.
Armstrong’s death was announced Wednesday by her friend Pete Ashdow, who told The Associated Press she died by suicide after recently relapsing after 18 months of sobriety.
Armstrong’s mother, Linda Hamilton-Oar, told DailyMail.com that they were shocked by her death but take comfort in their faith.
“We as a family are devastated, but we are confident that we will see her again,” she said.
Heather Armstrong was named ‘Queen of Mommy Bloggers’ by the New York Times magazine
Linda Hamilton-Oar, whose daughter Heather Armstrong took her own life after a well-documented battle with alcoholism and depression, said she had an innate ability to connect with people
Armstrong is pictured at her graduation with her mother Linda and stepfather Rob
When asked why she thought her daughter touched so many people, she said she thought it was because “Dooce,” as she was called on her blog, saw people in need of comfort.
“I don’t think she wore her heart on her sleeve,” Hamilton-Oar said.
“But she had incredible discernment.
“She saw what people needed.”
Hamilton-Oar, an Avon lady who divorced Hamilton’s father Mike and remarried Rob Oar, said her daughter had been intuitive since she was a child.
“She had it from a young age,” she said, from her intuition.
Armstrong is survived by daughters Leta, 18, and Marlo, 14.
Her heartbreaking latest blog post, published on April 6, discussed her battle with sobriety and paid tribute to her first-born daughter.
Armstrong’s mother (right) said her daughter (left) had a gift of intuition from an early age
Armstrong with her daughter Marlo, now 14, and her ex-husband Jon
“Early sobriety is like living like a shellfish without a shell,” she wrote.
She shared how in October 2021 she marked six months of sobriety “on my own on the floor next to my bed feeling like I was a wounded animal that wanted to be left alone to die.”
She described the milestone as “laden with tears and sobs so violently that at one point I thought my body was going to split in two.”
The grief plunged me into tidal waves of pain. For a few hours I found it hard to breathe,” she wrote.
‘I had completely shut myself off from the outside world because I didn’t understand what was happening to me. And I was ashamed.
“Here, two years after this often frenzied and wandering dance with life, I understand that I couldn’t hold anyone’s gaze, for everywhere I looked I saw nothing but my own worthlessness. And so I chose solitude. I couldn’t handle the idea of anyone else knowing how bad I felt about myself.”
She added, “Sobriety wasn’t some mystery for me to solve. It was simply looking at all my wounds and learning to live with them.’
Her death was announced on her Instagram page.
“Heather Brooke Hamilton, aka Heather B. Armstrong, aka Dooce, aka the love of my life. July 19, 1975 – May 9, 2023,” the message read.
“It takes an ocean not to break.”
“Keep your loved ones close to you and love everyone else.”
Armstrong’s passing was announced on her Instagram page on Wednesday
In 2016, Armstrong participated in a clinical trial where she was rendered brain dead three times a week for three weeks in an attempt to cure depression.
Armstrong started her blog, Dooce, in 2001.
The name came from her mistyping the word “dude” in a work email.
In 2009, she had a monthly readership of 8.4 million and was making $40,000 a month from banner ads, according to a 2019 Vox Profile.
In 2016, after battling suicidal depression and sharing her struggles online, she entered a clinical trial at the University of Utah.
During the three-week trial period, she was put into a minute-long coma three days a week.
The results were promising – six of the 10 patients who participated said their mental health improved and was still improving three months later.
It’s unclear if the treatment was ever submitted for approval.
She took part in drastic experiments to try and cure her depression, signed up to be rendered brain dead 10 times, and then wrote about it in the book: The Valedictorian of Death. Her previous books include Dear Daughter and It Sucked Then I Cried
Armstrong with her children Leta (left) and Marlo (right)
Armstrong wrote about it after the trial in her book: The Valedictorian of Death.
The experiment used propofol anesthesia to flatten her brain for 15 minutes. She was the third person to try.
In an interview with The New York Post about the treatment, she said she was not at all afraid that it could kill her.
She did it ten times and noticed small changes in her behavior after the first bouts of nausea.
“It was after the second treatment that I suddenly realized, ‘Oh, I showered without even thinking about it.’
“After the third treatment… I started doing my hair and wearing cleaner clothes,” she said.
She wrote about the experience in her book The Valedictorian of Death.
Her previous books include Dear Daughter and It Sucked Then I Cried.