Dilbert creator Scott Adamsex-wife Shelly Miles surprised fans tuning in to his web show “Real Coffee With Scott Adams” on January 13, 2026 by announcing the death of the cartoonist.
A tearful Shelly broke the news to viewers that Scott was “no longer with us” before reading a statement the author wrote before he died of prostate cancer.
“If you’re reading this, things haven’t been going well for me,” Scott wrote. “I have a few things to say before I go. My body failed before my brain. I am calm as I write this January 1, 2026. If you are wondering about any of my choices for my estate or anything else, please know that I am free from any improper influence of any kind, I promise.”
She added: “I had an amazing life, I gave it everything I had… Be helpful and please know I loved you all until the end.”
Throughout his career, Adams turned his cartooning into workplace Dilbert into a pop culture phenomenon and surpassed the New York Times bestseller list with his 1996 book The Dilbert Principle. However, Adams was also a controversial figure whose comic was dropped by newspapers in 2023 after he suggested that white people “keep the crap out of” black people.
Keep scrolling to learn more about Adams’ life.
Who was the creator of “Dilbert” Scott Adams?
After receiving a master’s degree in business administration from the University of California, Berkeley in 1986, Scott Adams worked in a series of corporate jobs. He began spoofing workplace culture with the Dilbert comic strip while working at Pacific Bell.
The comic, which was first published in 1989, parodied white-collar culture through the eyes of burned-out engineer Dilbert, his hapless corporate manager Pointy-Haired Boss, and his pet Dogbert, who was constantly devising plots to take over the world.
“The Dilbert look is based on a real person, who doesn’t know. I worked with him but I didn’t know him well,” Adams said. Editors’ Weekly in 2008. “I just had an interesting potato-shaped body that was fun to draw. It started as a doodle at my day job at a bank. Dilbert’s lack of social skills is based on my own personality; his professional skills are a combination of engineers I’ve met. And Dogbert is based partly on a family dog who never came when I called, and partly on the evil side.”
“Dilbert” TV show.
Everett CollectionAdams eventually became a full-time cartoonist when he was fired by Pacific Bell in the 1990s. At the height of Dilbert’s popularity, the comic strip read approximately 2,000 daily around the world
Dilbert became a series of products and projects with varying degrees of success, including video games, toys, and an animated television series that ran on UPN for two seasons from 1999 to 2000. (alone at home‘s Daniel Stern voiced Dilbert on the TV show, while the comics Chris Elliott i Larry Miller played Dogbert and Pointy-Haired Boss, respectively.)
In later years, he authored books on self-improvement and religious fantasy.
Did ‘Dilbert’ creator Scott Adams get married?
Scott Adams married his first wife, Shelly Miles, aboard a yacht in San Francisco Bay in July 2006. He became stepfather to Shelly’s two young children, Savannah and Justin, from a previous relationship.
“I hate saying stepdad because I hate the word ‘step.’ I’m an extra dad,” he told la East Bay Times at that time.
Scott and Shelly divorced in 2014 on amicable terms. In October 2018, Scott announced that Shelly’s son, Justin, had died at age 18 of a fentanyl overdose, per News from Mercury. (According to the Mayo Clinicfentanyl is an “injection used to relieve severe pain during and after surgery” that should only be given under the care of a doctor).
The cartoonist explained to the viewers your web program that “the little boy I raised since he was 2” had been trying to “kick Xanax” but was given a deadly cocktail of fentanyl. Scott recalled the horror of seeing “my dead, blue, swollen son laid out on a stretcher in front of his mother and biological father.”
Just over a year later, Scott revealed on his podcast in December 2019 that he was engaged to Kristina Basham. They got married on July 11, 2020.
The Dilbert the creator’s second marriage was short-lived, like him confirmed on his podcast in March 2022 that he and Basham were divorcing.
“I’m separated, slash going through a divorce,” he told podcast listeners. “(The only reason I’m telling you this is if you see my ex-wife on a date or me, don’t worry. Because it’s a long process.”
Why was “Dilbert” creator Scott Adams controversial?
Scott Adams made a number of provocative statements over the years and became known for his right-wing political views. He was accused of sexism by a since-deleted 2011 blog post where he wrote about the perceived differences between men and women.
“The reality is that women are treated differently by society for exactly the same reason that children and the mentally disabled are treated differently. It’s easier that way for everyone,” he said. “You don’t argue with a 4-year-old why he shouldn’t have candy for dinner. You don’t hit a mentally disabled person even if he hits you first. And you don’t argue when a woman tells you she only makes 80 cents on your dollar. It’s the path of least resistance. Save your energy for bigger battles.”
In a 2023 episode of his web series “Real Coffee With Scott Adams,” the cartoonist was discussing racial issues when he told viewers that “the best advice I would give white people is to stay away from black people.”
UPDATE: 5/28/25 at 10:54 a.m. ET – The WNBA has completed its investigation into alleged racist comments made at the Indiana Fever vs. Chicago Sky game on May 17 and was unable to substantiate the claims. “We investigated the complaint of racist behavior by fans around the court on May 17 (…)
Adams doubled down on these comments by suggesting that “if nearly half of all black people are not okay with white people,” then they should be designated a “hate group.”
More than 1,000 newspapers dropped Dilbert in the wake of Adams’ racist comments. Adams said NewsNation’s Cuomo in March 2023 that would not be publicly discussed.
“I did it on purpose,” he said of his racial comments. “I offended people so they would be attracted to the solution.”
The Washington Post he reported at the same time that Adams lost nearly 80 percent of his income due to the racism scandal.
What health problems did ‘Dilbert’ creator Scott Adams face?
Following the former president Joe BidenIts May 2025 announcement diagnosis of prostate cancerScott Adams announced on his YouTube show that he had terminal prostate cancer.
“I have the same cancer as Joe Biden. I also have prostate cancer that has spread to my bones as well,” Adams told viewers. “So my life expectancy is, maybe this summer. I hope to be checking out this domain sometime this summer.”
Adams explained that the cancer “was already intolerable” and that he was “always in pain”.
“I can tell you that I don’t have good days. If you’re wondering, ‘Hey Scott, do you ever have a good day?’ no Every day is a nightmare and the evening is even worse”, he confessed.
In November 2025, Adams publicly appealed to the president donald trump to help you take Pluvicto, a targeted radioligand therapy that can be effective in treating some forms of prostate cancer. Trump and the Secretary of Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. both offered to help, but Adams confirmed in December 2025 that he had not yet received the medication.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever get the Pluvicto or not,” he announced to viewers in December. “If I don’t, I’ll be unhappy.”
Adams later told viewers that he was “paralyzed from the waist down” in the final weeks of his life.
“I can’t move a muscle” he said in December 2025. “I have a feeling, I can’t move a muscle. And the solution as of today is we’re going to take me in an ambulance to a radiation facility and they’re going to try to radiate that pesky tumor around my spine if all goes well, and it’s got more tumor than good stuff, at least I could get some strength back to get my lower body back.”
Adams died on January 13, 2026. In his last letter to fans, the well-known religious skeptic said he would “accept Jesus Christ as (his) Lord and savior.”
“Many of my Christian friends have asked me to find Jesus before I go,” Scott’s ex-wife Shelly Miles read in a letter to his fans. “I’m not a believer, but I have to admit that the risk-reward calculation of doing this seems so appealing to me, so here I am. I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior, and I hope to spend eternity with Him.”
He then joked, “The non-believer part should be settled quickly if I wake up in heaven. I won’t need any more convincing than that. I hope I’m still qualified to get in.”