Jill Martin, a “Today” program journalist, was diagnosed with breast cancer less than a week after testing positive for the BRCA gene.
Martin decided to get a double mastectomy as soon as she received the results of her genetic test; unfortunately, an MRI before the procedure revealed that she had cancer. Erik Brooks, a businessman, is Martin’s wife.
“I am in shock, but at the same time I’m so grateful because it could be a very different story that we’re talking about,” Martin, 47, said in an interview. “Of course I’m devastated. You hear the C-word and you think the worst. But after you hear the word and you absorb it, you then have to be your own best friend. And also having the platform to share my story has given me strength, because I feel like while I’m healing, I will be able to help literally save lives. And if I save one life from this, then this process will have been worth it for me.”
Who is Erik Brooks?
The TODAY lifestyle and business correspondent married businessman Erik Brooks in September 2022. The wedding took held in New York City at the New York Public Library.
In an interview, Martin, 46, stated that Brooks, 56, considered her “many eccentricities ‘adorable,'” which led her to conclude he was “The One.” She described herself as “excited, grateful, and ready to dance the night away” with the couple’s wedding guests.
She added, “We chose a location and a setup that worked for everyone in our family. When you get married later in life, making sure it is about everyone is so important.”
Martin married the founder of Ethos Capital in the Hamptons in May 2019. At the time, the couple had been dating for nearly two years. Martin, on the other hand, claimed in an interview that the couple split up the next year because the COVID-19 outbreak made long-distance dating problematic. They reconnected and were engaged again in November 2021.
