Martin Short has spoken publicly for the first time about the death of his daughter, Katherine Short, describing it as “a nightmare for the family”. Katherine died by suicide in February at her home in the Hollywood Hills. She was 42.
Speaking on CBS News Sunday Morning, the 76-year-old comedian compared his daughter’s death to that of his wife, Nancy Dolman, who died of ovarian cancer in 2010. “The understanding that mental health and cancer … are both diseases, and sometimes with diseases they are terminal,” he said. “My daughter fought for a long time with extreme mental health … and did the best she could, until she couldn’t.”
Short said he had a “deep desire” to bring mental health “out of the shadows” and to accept that suicide “can be the last stage of an illness”. He also spoke of losing several other close friends and family in the past year, including his sister-in-law.
Katherine, the eldest of three children adopted by Short and Dolman, largely avoided the spotlight. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and gender sexuality studies from New York University and a master’s in social work from the University of Southern California, later working as a licensed clinical social worker.
Short has experienced loss from an early age: his older brother died in a car crash when Short was 12, and both parents died while he was still a teenager. He said this gave him “a muscle of survival and handling grief”. A new Netflix documentary, Marty, Life Is Short, premiering on 12 May, explores his life and losses.
