Jill Martin is jumping back into the dating pool in a unique way.
“I’m on these dating apps, and I’ve perfected the FaceTime date as being super efficient,” Martin, 48, explained during the third hour of Today on Monday, March 10. “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.”
Martin noted that the perks of FaceTime dates include saving time, quickly detecting if there’s chemistry or not and reducing the risk of catfishing. “[On] Zoom calls, you don’t have to put pants or anything fancy on, just waist up,” she added. “And then, it’s very efficient.”
Martin shared that FaceTime dates also save you from the hassle of “getting dressed” and having “first date anxiety.” 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.”
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When asked by Dylan Dreyer if any of her FaceTime dates went well, Martin teased that one of them “kinda” did. (Martin filled in for Al Roker on Monday’s third hour of Today episode. Cohost Sheinelle Jones has been absent for over a month to deal with a “family health matter.”)
Martin’s love life update comes six months after news broke that she and Erik Brooks separated after two years of marriage. According to court documents obtained by Us Weekly, Brooks filed divorce docs on July 30, 2024, and listed their date of separation as one day prior.
A spokesperson for Martin told Page Six at the time that the exes were “nearly done with the process” of finalizing their divorce and that Martin planned to keep quiet about the matter. “Because there are families involved, and the past year has been so earth-shattering for Jill, she plans for this to be her only acknowledgment,” her spokesperson added. “She is concentrating on her health and being an amazing daughter, friend and new aunt.”
Just as she’s meeting new people on dating apps, Martin first met Brooks via a dating app before getting engaged for the first time in 2019. The pair briefly split before reconciling and tying the knot in September 2022.
Martin opened up about simultaneously battling breast cancer and going through her divorce in the same year during an October 2024 episode of Hoda Kotb’s “Making Space” podcast. “People are like, ‘How are you?’ I’m like, ‘Not great. I had cancer and I got divorced in a year,’” Martin, who is currently cancer-free, said before noting she was “thriving under the circumstances.”
She continued, “I had a beautiful love affair, but like some stories, unfortunately, have [a] beginning, middle, and end. And we both put the period on it this time. So, if everything were great, we would be married. So obviously there were issues. … [We] are holding different things that are important to each of us, and they’re not right or wrong.”
In terms of what she’s looking for in a new partner, Martin said, “If someone can’t handle the cancer part of it or the body part of it, that’s not my guy. I have so much to offer now. I know right from wrong.”
