Scott Adams, the cartoonist behind the satirical comic strip Dilbert and a conservative commentator, has died aged 68 after being diagnosed with prostate cancer. His ex-wife Shelly Miles announced his death in a tearful livestream on his YouTube channel, Real Coffee with Scott Adams, on Tuesday.
In the video, Miles read a farewell message from Adams, dated January 1, 2026, in which he said: 'I’m trying to be strong. If you are reading this, things did not go well for me. My body fell before my brain.' He expressed hope for entry into heaven and recounted his marriages and accomplishments.
Adams revealed in May last year that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer, which had spread to his bones. Born in 1957 in Windham, New York, he debuted Dilbert in 1989, a comic strip satirising corporate culture that became syndicated in over 400 newspapers by 1994. He won the National Cartoonists Society’s Reuben award in 1997.
From 2015, Adams turned to conservative commentary, praising Donald Trump and hosting a podcast questioning Covid-19 vaccines and the Holocaust. In February 2023, most US newspapers dropped Dilbert after he described Black people as a 'hate group' and urged white people to 'get the hell away' from them.
Adams was married twice: to Shelly Miles from 2006 to 2014, and to Kristina Basham from 2020 to 2022. He leaves no biological children.
