Martin Short breaks silence on daughter’s tragic suicide at 42

Martin Short has opened up about his daughter’s suicide, saying her loss has ‘been a nightmare’ for all who loved her.

Katherine Hartley Short, 42, died in February from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Short, 76, compared her battle with mental health to the cancer his wife, Nancy Dolman, faced. She died from the disease in 2010.

‘The understanding [is] that mental health and cancer, like my wife’s, are both diseases, and sometimes with diseases they are terminal,’ said the star of Father Of The Bride, Three Amigos! and Only Murders In The Building.

He also told CBS Sunday Mornings: ‘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.’

Short said his aim was to support a mental health awareness organization founded by Glenn Close called Bringchange2mind. 

He said the non-profit aims to take ‘mental health out of the shadows’. 

Short shared a moving message that touched on how he hopes struggles with mental health can be understood. 

‘Not being ashamed of it, not hiding from the word suicide, but accepting that this can be the last stage of an illness – and that’s my approach to this,’ he said. 

Martin Short, 76, publicly addressed the ‘nightmare’ death of his daughter Katherine

The Canadian-born actor and comedian has also detailed how he had been faced with tragedy while growing up and how it had affected him.

He lost his older brother in a car crash when he was 12 and both his parents died when he was a teenager.

His mother died from cancer three years after his brother was killed and his father followed her a year later.

‘What it developed in me was this muscle of survival and handling grief and a perspective on it,’ he explained.

‘We have to celebrate… Just to think of them, they’ve just gone into the next room for a while.’

Katherine was 42 when she took her own life in February and had battled mental health issues

Short told the morning show that Katherine ‘did the best she could until she couldn’t’

Katherine was one of three children whom Short and his wife adopted.

His daughter was a licensed clinical social worker with a master’s degree from the University of Southern California. 

Her loss ‘devastated’ the actor and her brothers Oliver Patrick, 39, and Henry Hayter, 36.

But his experience with bereavement gave Short a poignant perspective on his daughter’s decision to end her life.

When Nancy was dying from ovarian cancer in 2010 at the age of 58, her last words to him, he said, were ‘Marty let me go’.

He told CBS Sunday Mornings that to his mind, his daughter Katherine was just in her own way saying: ‘Dad, let me go.’

Katherine was one of three children adopted by Short and his wife Nancy Dolman during their 30-year marriage. She’s pictured right with her parents and brother Oliver Patrick in 1989

Short’s wife of 30 years Nancy Dolman died from ovarian cancer in 2010 and his close friend of 50 years Catherine O’Hara passed away in January

Short’s reflection on his life and career is captured in director Lawrence Kasdan’s Netflix documentary Marty: Life Is Short which premieres on Netflix on May 12

His daughter’s passing came just weeks after the death of his friend and collaborator of five decades Catherine O’Hara, and two months after the murders of his close friends Rob and Michele Reiner.

O’Hara died from a pulmonary embolism at 71 on January 30, with rectal cancer identified as the underlying long-term cause.

The celebrated actress is featured in Short’s upcoming Netflix documentary Marty: Life Is Short.

Directed by Lawrence Kasdan, it is a reflection on his life and work and includes never-before-seen home movies, classic clips of his work and new interviews with his friends and famous co-stars.

Short’s appearance on CBS Sunday Mornings was part of his promotional tour for the documentary that drops on Netflix this Tuesday, May 12.