Martin Short has always made the world laugh. Right now, he is doing something far harder. The beloved comedian sat down with “CBS Sunday Morning” to talk openly about the passing of his daughter, Katherine Short, 42, who died in February.
For a man who has spent decades bringing joy to others, these are the words that do not come easily.
‘Sometimes Diseases Are Terminal’: Martin Short’s Raw and Honest Words on Katherine’s Passing
Short did not look for easy words. There are none for a loss like this. “It’s been a nightmare for the family,” he said.
“But the understanding [is] that mental health and cancer, like my wife’s, are both diseases, and sometimes with diseases they are terminal. And my daughter fought for a long time with extreme mental health, borderline personality disorder, other things, and did the best she couldn’t until she couldn’t.”
He said it with the quiet steadiness of a man who has learned, through a lifetime of loss, that some things simply cannot be explained away. Only carried.
Who Katherine Short Was and the Life She Gave to Others
The eldest of three children adopted by Short and his late wife, actress Nancy Dolman, Katherine built a career entirely around helping others face the struggles she privately carried herself.
A licensed social worker based in Los Angeles, she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and gender sexuality studies from NYU in 2006, per People.
She later completed a master’s in social work at USC and worked at UCLA’s Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital before moving into private practice.
Katherine also volunteered with Bring Change 2 Mind, a nonprofit dedicated to reducing the stigma surrounding mental illness.
‘Let Me Go’: Martin Short on Losing Both His Wife and His Daughter
GettyKatherine’s passing comes more than a decade after another devastating loss for the Short family. Nancy Dolman, Short’s wife of 30 years, died of ovarian cancer in 2010.
In his “CBS Sunday Morning” conversation, Short connected the two losses in a way that was quiet, honest, and deeply human. Both were diseases, he said. Both took someone he loved completely.
“So, Nan’s last words to me were, ‘Martin, let me go,'” Short said. “And what she was just saying [was], ‘Dad, let me go.'”
GettyHe has spoken before about what grief does to a family and what it asks of the people left behind.
“It’s been a tough two years for my children,” he previously told The Guardian in 2012.
“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.”
He was 12 years old when his older brother was killed in a car accident. He had not yet finished his teenage years when both of his parents passed away.
Those experiences, he said, quietly built something inside him that has carried him ever since.
“What it developed in me was this muscle of survival and handling grief and a perspective on it,” Short said.
That same strength, he reflected, gave him the courage to stand in front of audiences night after night for more than five decades.
“I think if you’ve gone through that, an audience not liking you is really not that important anymore,” he said.
Short is set to appear in the Netflix documentary “Marty, Life Is Short,” premiering May 12, which chronicles his life and career through archival footage and intimate interviews with those closest to him.
The film is dedicated in part to Katherine, a tribute to the daughter he loved and the life she lived.
If you or someone you know is having suicidal thoughts, dial 988 to reach the toll-free Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. It’s available 24 hours a day, seven days a week (dial 888-628-9454 for assistance in Spanish). You can also speak with a trained crisis counselor anytime by texting HOME to 741741 to reach the Crisis Text Line.
I’m so sorry to hear about Katherine. It’s incredibly heartbreaking to see a family go through such a difficult loss, and Martin’s words are really poignant.