Martin Short Breaks Silence on Daughter's Suicide Two Months After Tragic Katherine, 42, Passed Away — 'It's Been a Nightmare'
Maritn Short has opened up about his daughter's tragic suicide and her mental health woes.
May 11 2026, Published 8:44 a.m. ET
Martin Short has opened up about the death of his daughter Katherine, describing her loss as "a nightmare."
RadarOnline.com can reveal the veteran star, 76, told of her struggles with mental health, comparing her issues to his wife Nancy Dolman's battle with cancer which ultimately led to her passing in 2010.
Katherine 'Did The Best She Could Until She Couldn't'
Short said Katherine battled with her mental heath for years, as well as 'borderline personality disorder.'
Katherine Hartley Short, 42, died in February from a self-inflicted gunshot wound and until now, Short has yet to go into detail about her tragic passing.
He said: "The understanding (is) that mental health and cancer, like my wife's, are both diseases, and sometimes with diseases they are terminal."
Short 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."
The Father of the Bride actor 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."
Suicide 'Last Stage Of Illness'
Short reflected on how he's attempted to process his daughter's death.
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.
The 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."
Family 'Devastated' By Loss
Katherine's brothers Henry and Olivier were both left 'devastated' by her suicide.
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."
In his latest interview, Short admitted that to his mind, his daughter Katherine was just in her own way saying: "Dad, let me go."
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Katherine's biological mother Kristine Sanz says she 'may have been able to help her.'
RadarOnline.com recently told how Katherine's suicide has devastated her biological mother, who exclusively told us she was harassed and intimidated by a group of goons nearly 20 years ago after briefly reconnecting with the daughter she gave up as a teenager.
A terrified Kristine Sanz said she was forced to flee her New York City apartment and go into hiding in 2007 shortly after a Los Angeles-based security firm – claiming to be working for the funnyman – demanded she stop communicating with Katherine.
Speaking out for the first time, the heartbroken 63-year-old mom said Katherine may have tried to reach out to her before committing suicide, and Sanz believes Katherine would be alive today if the pair was allowed to develop a mother-daughter relationship.
"I feel that she wanted to know me," Sanz said, referring to a mysterious Christmas card she received in 2025 signed with a question mark. "She'd be alive today if I were in her life. I might have been able to maybe help her."
