Meanwhile, advice columnist Margo Howard, who also writes for the online publication The Women on the Web, where Smith's remembrance appeared today, Tweeted the news citing Smith as her source:
Contradicting the odd announcements, the New York Times contacted Ephron's publisher, Knopf, who said she has not died:
UPDATE: Newsweek/Daily Beast reporter MariaElena Fernandez chimed in through the confusion, adding that Ephron, who is battling cancer, is alive but near death.
UPDATE: TMZ cites family members who say Ephron is "gravely ill," while Roger Friedman has been told that she's in a New York hospital suffering from "a rare form of leukemia."
Developing...
[WOW]