Today show lifestyle contributor Jill Martin has revealed she must undergo more surgery due to complications from her cancer treatment.
The 49-year-old journalist – who declared she was cancer-free in early 2025 – shared on the January 9 segment that she will have an urgent procedure to repair damage to her skin caused by radiation therapy for breast cancer.
‘Just when you think the fight is over, life reminds you that healing isn’t always linear,’ she said.
Martin – whose close friend and former co-anchor Hoda Kotb previously shared her own breast cancer battle – made it clear that she was returning to hospital as a reconstructive patient, not a cancer patient.
‘It’s preventative and proactive – an emergency only in the sense that if we don’t act now, it could turn into something much bigger,’ she said, per People, adding, ‘It’s important to say this clearly: my cancer is not back.’
This will mark Martin’s eighth surgery since being diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer in 2023.
Today show lifestyle contributor Jill Martin has revealed she must undergo more surgery due to complications from her breast cancer treatment; pictured in November 2025
The journalist, 49 – who declared she was cancer-free in early 2025 – shared on the January 9 segment that she will have an urgent procedure to repair damage to her skin caused by radiation therapy for breast cancer; pictured with Hoda Kotb in 2024
The diagnosis came one week after tests determined Martin carried the BRCA gene, which significantly increases the risk for certain cancers like breast cancer and ovarian cancer.
The same year, she underwent a double mastectomy and had 16 lymph nodes removed followed by four months of chemotherapy, plus three weeks of radiation, reconstructive surgery, and the removal of her ovaries and fallopian tubes as a precautionary move.
Dr. Elisa Port, chief of breast surgery for Mount Sinai Health System and one of Martin’s doctors, told the Today show that radiation, which is applied through the skin to get to cancer cells, can cause skin breakdown.
‘When a person has a mastectomy, obviously the goal is to get all the breast cancer out,’ Port told the news program.
‘But there’s another goal, especially in a BRCA mutation carrier like Jill… to get all the breast tissue out. And when you do that, the skin left behind can be very thin. … It’s just a lot for the skin to tolerate,’ the doctor added.
Port explained Martin’s upcoming procedure will be done to reinforce the surgery wound, similar to a skin graft, so it doesn’t open up again and pose a risk for infection.
Martin expects to remain in hospital over three nights, then she will recover at home another few weeks.
‘I feel worn out and grateful all at once,’ the Emmy Award-winninng TV personality admitted.
Martin’s doctor told the Today show that the upcoming procedure will be done to reinforce the surgery wound, similar to a skin graft, so it doesn’t open up again and pose a risk for infection; pictured in December 2024
The Emmy Award-winning TV personality has been transparent about her health ordeal and spoken at length about it on the NBC program; pictured with colleages Al Roker and Dylan Dreyer in June 2024
Martin made it clear that she was returning to hospital as a reconstructive patient, not a cancer patient, saying, ‘My cancer is not back’
‘Sometimes it feels like it never really ends. And still — I’m grateful. Grateful for early action, for great doctors, and for the chance to keep moving forward.’
Martin’s health ordeal began a year after her 2022 wedding to Ethos Capital founder Erik Brooks.Â
However, the couple decided to call it quits in 2024 after just two years of marriage.
‘Jill is focused on getting healthy and making a difference. She’s launching a new initiative on TODAY Oct. 1 for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. And she’s starting a new business this month,’ a source told People at the time.
Still, Martin told the publication back in 2024 that she was ‘grateful’ the diagnosis came after her wedding to Brooks, as it ‘was such a purely happy event.’
‘I feel like this is a new chapter with a new journey – that’s not bad because I am going to take this. It will just be different,’ she added.
Last March, Martin told her Today show colleagues she was giving internet dating a try.
‘I’m on these dating apps, and I’ve perfected the FaceTime date as being super efficient,’ she admitted.
Martin’s marriage to Erik Brooks – pictured with her in October 2022 – ended in divorce in 2024 just two years after the wedding
‘So, I schedule either a coffee or a drink depending on the time zone, because people come up from different places, and I’ve actually made a list.’
She shared: ‘[On] Zoom calls, you don’t have to put pants or anything fancy on, just waist up, and then, it’s very efficient.’
Martin said FaceTime dates spared her from the burden of finding something suitable to wear and that ‘first date anxiety.’Â
She added: ‘You can tell on FaceTime, even with friends, when you have chemistry and [if] there’s juju there. And friends of mine who are single say they’re afraid to ask for a FaceTime date. And I say let’s normalize it because it’s 15, 20 minutes, and then, you can move on with your life.’Â
