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This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 800-273-TALK (8255).
Martin Short is breaking his silence on the recent death of his daughter Katherine Short.
During a May 10 appearance on “CBS Sunday Morning,” the 76-year-old actor and comedian spoke out about how he is coping with the loss of Katherine, who died by suicide at the age of 42 in February. Short shared Katherine with his late wife Nancy Dolman, who passed away after a battle with ovarian cancer in 2010.
“It’s been a nightmare for the family,” Short said of Katherine’s death.
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“But the understanding [is] that mental health and cancer, like my wife’s, are both diseases, and sometimes with diseases they are terminal,” he continued. “And my daughter fought for a long time with extreme mental health, borderline personality disorder, other things, and did the best she could until she couldn’t.”
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Fox News Digital previously confirmed that Katherine died by suicide on Feb.23.
According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner, Katherine’s place of death was listed as her residence, and the cause was determined to be a “gunshot wound of [the] head.”
“It is with profound grief that we confirm the passing of Katherine Hartley Short,” a family representative shared in a statement with Fox News Digital at the time.
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“The Short family is devastated by this loss, and asks for privacy at this time. Katherine was beloved by all and will be remembered for the light and joy she brought into the world.”
Following Katherine’s death, Short postponed dates on his comedy tour with longtime friend and collaborator Steve Martin.
Katherine was the eldest of the three children Short adopted with Dolman. The two also shared sons Oliver, 40 and Henry, 36. The couple were married for more than three decades before Dolman’s death.
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Prior to her death, Katherine built a career as a licensed clinical social worker in Los Angeles, focusing on therapy and mental health advocacy after studying psychology at New York University and earning a master’s degree in social work from the University of Southern California. She worked both in private practice and in community outreach connected to mental health services.
Despite a career defined by laughter — from the iconic wedding planner Franck in “Father of the Bride” to his recent turn in the Emmy-winning series “Only Murders in the Building” — Short has never shied away from speaking about the private heartbreak that unfolded behind the scenes.
Early in his life, Short experienced multiple family tragedies in a short span of time, including the death of his older brother David in a car accident in 1962 when the actor was only 12-years-old. Short’s mother, Olive, passed away after a battle with cancer in 1968 and his father, Charles, died following a stroke just two years later in 1970.
In the years after Dolman’s death, the comedian acknowledged that his children navigated a tumultuous time without their mother.
“It’s been a tough two years for my children,” he told The Guardian in October 2012.
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“This is the thing of life that we live in denial about, that it will ever happen to us or our loved ones, and when it does you gain a little and you suffer a little. There’s no big surprise.”
Nearly a decade later, he reflected on how grief evolves rather than disappears.
“It’s tough,” he told AARP in 2019. “I still communicate with her all the time. It’s ‘Hey, Nan,’ you know?”
He added, “I believe that when people die, they zoom into the people that love them. This idea that it just ends, and don’t speak of them — that’s wrong. That’s based on denial that we’re all going to die. So to me, she’s still here.”
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