EXCLUSIVE: Martin Short 'Death Curse' Exposed in Wake of Daughter's Suicide Aged 42 — How Comic Has Endured Deaths of Parents, Brother and Ex-Wife
Martin Short has also lost his brother and his wife.
Feb. 25 2026, Published 5:00 p.m. ET
Martin Short is facing another devastating loss after his daughter, Katherine Hartley Short, was found dead at 42 – but RadarOnline.com can reveal it is only the latest in a long line of tragedies in a life marked by the deaths of the comic's parents, brother, and wife.
Authorities discovered Katherine, a social worker, inside her Hollywood Hills, California, home on Monday, February 23, around 6 pm. Newly released 911 audio shows a dispatcher referring to how she died from a "self-inflicted" gunshot wound.
Authorities discovered Katherine Hartley Short inside her Hollywood Hills home on February 23.
A representative for 75-year-old Only Murders in the Building star Martin confirmed her death on Tuesday, February 24, saying the family was grieving deeply. The death follows a string of losses that have shaped Short's life – with insiders telling us he now feels "cursed."
Tragedies he has endured range from the fatal car accident that killed his brother David when Martin was 12, to the cancer deaths of his mother, Olive Hayter, when he was 17, and his father Charles Patrick Short two years later – the 2010 death of his wife, Nancy Dolman, who was killed by ovarian cancer aged 58.
Katherine was the eldest of Short's three children, all adopted during his 36-year marriage to Dolman. He is also father of Oliver Patrick and Henry Hayter.
In a statement, his representative said about Katherine's apparent suicide: "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 legendary comic has not yet spoken publicly about his daughter's death.
How Tragic Losses Made Martin Short 'Braver'
Martin Short endured the loss of his older brother, David, in a fatal car accident.
Over the years, however, Martin has spoken candidly about grief and the way repeated tragedy has shaped him. In August 2024, he said: "At 20, I knew things about life and death and tragedy and loss that none of my friends knew about. I don't know why this didn't screw me up. The only thing I can think of is that these kind of life stresses either empower you or defeat you."
He added, "But I think that by surviving all that and continuing on, I developed muscles to handle the disappointments in life. And I do think, in a weird way, it did make me braver as a performer, braver onstage. I'd try something, and if some people didn't like it, I didn't care because I didn't know them. I was never doing this for the admiration of strangers. I was doing this to make my siblings and my friends laugh."
'You Gain a Little and You Suffer a Little'
Ovarian cancer killed Martin Short’s wife, Nancy Dolman, in August 2010.
Dolman's death in August 2010 followed a year-long battle with ovarian cancer. In 2012, Short reflected on their marriage, saying in a newspaper interview: "We were together for 36 years, but I would have been divorced five times if I hadn't found the right person."
The Three Amigos comedy veteran added, "I wouldn't have faked it and played a game just because I didn't want to be divorced. It's been a tough two years for my children.
"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."
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The Short family requested privacy while they mourned the loss of Katherine.
Speaking later that year, Martin added about dealing with grief: "I think that you become empowered in a weird way by loss – at any age – but certainly when you're young.
"You can either go into a direction of say being, 'I am going to be a victim from this. I'm going to be a drunk. I'm going to do drugs. But, you don't know what I've been through.' Or you become more resilient."
