Heather Armstrong accumulated substantial wealth starting in 2004 by displaying advertisements on her website, resulting in $100,000 in yearly earnings by 2009.
Born on July 19, 1975, in Memphis, Tennessee, she was renowned as an American blogger hailing from Salt Lake City, Utah.
She used the pseudonym Dooce, inspired by her difficulty in quickly spelling “dude” during online conversations with her former colleagues.
Heather Armstrong initiated her blog in 2001 and was dismissed from her job the following year after her colleagues discovered her write-ups about them.
Following her termination, she continued blogging, focusing on her challenges as a parent and eventually began displaying advertisements in 2004.
Five years later, with 8.5 million monthly readers, Heather Armstrong’s wealth began to grow, earning over $100,000 annually from banner ads on Dooce.
Armstrong was featured on Oprah and recognized by Forbes magazine as one of the 30 honorees on its “The Most Influential Women in Media” list for 2009.
In the mid-2010s, Dooce’s viewership began to decline due to the impact of social media. Subsequently, after her divorce and facing online criticism, she discontinued regular blogging and experienced depression.
In 2017, following a successful treatment, she resumed her previous online presence, albeit to a much smaller audience, and began earning income as an influencer.
What Led to Heather Armstrong’s Termination from Her Job?
Armstrong grew up as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, majoring in English.
As a student, she began to question the church and faced significant depression, especially in Mormon Utah.
Upon graduating in 1997, she left the church and moved to Los Angeles, where she found employment as a web developer for startups during the dot-com boom.
In 2002, Armstrong sparked a heated debate regarding privacy concerns when she was reportedly dismissed from her job as a graphic designer and web developer due to satirical accounts of her experiences at a dot-com startup on her personal blog, dooce.com.
During the debate, she coined the term “Dooced”, meaning “getting fired for something you’ve written on your website”, though Armstrong humorously rejected the term in her website’s FAQ.
On December 10, 2009, the television game show “Jeopardy!” referenced this definition, as evidenced by a screenshot on their website the following day.
She continued blogging after her dismissal and eventually met Jon Armstrong, another former Mormon web developer from Utah, through a mutual acquaintance.
They got married and returned to their hometown to start a family.
After welcoming their first child in 2004, Armstrong devoted a substantial portion of her blog to parenting, becoming one of the pioneer mommy bloggers.
The couple had two children, Leta Elise and Marlo Iris, born in 2004 and 2009, respectively.
Is Heather Armstrong Still in a Relationship with Pete Ashdown?
Armstrong managed her achievements through her blog, on Instagram, and from book sales, publishing a memoir in 2009 titled “It Sucked and then I Cried: How I Had a Baby, a Breakdown, and a Much Needed Margarita.”
That same year, she appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and was featured on the Forbes list of the most influential women in media.
In 2012, she announced their separation. They divorced later that year. She began dating Ashdown, a former US Senate candidate, nearly six years ago.
They resided together with her children. Ashdown has three children from his previous marriage who also spent time with them.
Armstrong was unapologetic on Instagram and Dooce, a name derived from her struggle to rapidly pronounce “dude” during online discussions.
Her candid and unapologetic posts, covering topics from breastfeeding to pregnancy, carpools, and homework, were often punctuated with profanities.
As her popularity grew, so did the criticisms from detractors, who accused her of subpar parenting and more.
The Queen of Mommy Bloggers Took Her Own Life
Heather Armstrong, who openly shared her struggles as a mother and her battles with depression and alcohol addiction on her site Dooce.com and social media, passed away at the age of 47.
She had two children with her ex-husband and business partner, Jon Armstrong, who founded Dooce in 2001 and turned it into a lucrative career.
Heather Armstrong’s partner, Pete Ashdown, informed the media that he discovered her at their residence in Salt Lake City on the evening of Tuesday, May 9, 2023.
She was among the first and most prominent mommy bloggers, candidly writing about her relationships, children, and other life challenges as personal blogs gained popularity.
Ashdown mentioned that Heather Armstrong’s cause of death was suicide. He also revealed that his girlfriend had been sober for over 18 months before experiencing a relapse.
She spoke about her previous triumph over drinking in one of her posts on Dooce.
In October 2021, Armstrong celebrated six months of sobriety by herself, likening her feelings to being a wounded animal yearning to be left alone to perish.
She also expressed that no one around her could comprehend the significance of that achievement to her.
Prior to her passing, she shared that she was burdened by severe depression, which is believed to have been a contributing factor to her suicide.
However, the details of Heather Armstrong’s obituary are yet to be shared by her partner.
What was Heather Armstrong’s Wealth at the Time of Her Passing?
Heather Armstrong’s net worth was estimated to be around $2 million before her passing, primarily earned through her blogging career.
Her personal blog, “Dooce,” was reported to generate $100,000 annually in 2009.
