Martin Short Breaks His Silence on Daughter Katherine’s Death at 42: “It’s Been a Nightmare”

Martin Short is finally speaking — and what he has to say will break your heart.

The beloved comedian sat down with CBS News Sunday Morning‘s Tracy Smith on May 10, opening up publicly for the first time about the devastating death of his daughter, Katherine Short, who died by suicide in February at the age of 42.

“It’s been a nightmare for the family,” Short said quietly during the emotional interview.

The Only Murders in the Building star, 76, didn’t stop there. In the kind of raw, unflinching honesty that has long defined him offscreen, Short drew a deeply personal parallel between his daughter’s death and the loss of his wife.

“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 could until she couldn’t,” he told CBS Sunday Morning.

It’s the kind of clarity only grief can produce.

Katherine was the eldest of the three children Short and his late wife, Nancy Dolman, adopted together — alongside sons Oliver, 40, and Henry, 36. According to the Los Angeles coroner, Katherine died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A licensed social worker in Los Angeles, she had dedicated her career to mental health advocacy, including work with the charity Bring Change 2 Mind, which focuses on reducing stigma around mental illness.

Short recalled, with painful precision, the moment he learned of his daughter’s death.

“I was getting in the car that day,” he said. “And I was thinking, ‘Okay, I’m 75. Why am I continuing? Like, really? What is the point of this?'”

The answer came when he arrived at his son Oliver’s home in Newport Beach, California.

“I got to Newport, and these two grandsons, five and four, just jumped, ‘Let’s play giant,'” Short recalled. “And suddenly go, ‘Oh, that’s why. That’s why.'”

The grief is compounded by a haunting echo of loss. Nancy Dolman, Short’s wife of 30 years, died of ovarian cancer in 2010 at the age of 58. Short has now buried both a wife and a daughter — and has found a way to see their departures as acts of love, however excruciating.

“Nan’s last words to me were, ‘Martin, let me go,'” Short said. “And what she was just saying [was], ‘Dad, let me go.'”

Following Katherine’s passing, the Short family released a statement confirming the tragic news. “It is with profound grief that we confirm the passing of Katherine Hartley Short,” it read. “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.”

The timing of Sunday’s interview was not accidental. Short’s upcoming Netflix documentary, Marty, Life Is Short, premieres May 12. Directed by Oscar nominee Lawrence Kasdan and produced by Imagine Documentaries, the film blends archival footage with new interviews to explore both his professional highs and the personal losses that have shaped him.

The documentary is dedicated to Katherine, as well as longtime collaborator Catherine O’Hara, who died on January 30 at the age of 71.

Short’s resilience has always been remarkable — and watching him channel this nightmare into something meaningful is, perhaps, the most Martin Short thing he’s ever done.

If you or someone you know is struggling, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, available 24/7.