Martin Short Describes Resemblance of Daughter Katherine Short and Late Wife Nancy Dolman’s Deaths

Martin​‍​‌‍​‍‌​‍​‌‍​‍‌ Short Reflects on the Loss of His Wife Nancy Dolman and Daughter Katherine Within 15 Years

Martin Short has shared his thoughts on two of the major heartbreaks that marked his life.
Short has spoken about the death of his eldest daughter Katherine Short who died by suicide at age 42 and how it invoked the memory of his wife who Nancy died of ovarian cancer in 2010.

In his interview with The New York Times (published May 15), the Emmy-winning comedian shared the last words from Nancy to him: “Martin, let me go.”
Short added that even though Nancy and Katherine were dealing with very different issues, their deaths still led to the same devastating pain for ​‍​‌‍​‍‌​‍​‌‍​‍‌him.

Martin Short on His daughter’s Mental Health Struggles

Out of nowhere, Martin Short brought up how hard it was when his daughter Katherine passed away, speaking with The New York Times. Though she battled sickness, she told him, ‘Dad, let me go,’ like a whisper he still hears. He said, ‘I don’t see any difference between mental illness as a disease and cancer as a disease. Sometimes, both can be fatal. Yet, there are also instances where both can be cured.’
Short has revealed that even after many years, the pain of losing a child awakens a deep confusion and disbelief in him.

“What’s worse is that it’s your own child who dies,” he confessed. “But I guess, kind of unexpectedly, I have found others who want to go to the light.”
Until now, it has been mainly a joke about death to the comedian. In a previous interview, Short revealed how three of his closest family members died before he was twenty, and since then, grief has been the main theme of his ​‍​‌‍​‍‌​‍​‌‍​‍‌life.

Martin Short Reveals That Katherine ‘Fought for a Long Time’ With Mental Health Issues

Waking each morning still feels heavy, says Martin Short, when talking about losing his daughter Katherine. That pain – sharp, unrelenting – settled into their home like a storm that never lifts. One moment life moves normally; then silence takes over.

Grief arrived without warning, he explains, reshaping days in ways nothing else could. For him and those close, the absence hums constantly beneath ordinary things. Even years later, certain sounds or glances pull back the weight. There is no fixing it, just living around the edges. What remains isn’t closure but a different kind of holding on.

On May 10, a conversation between the performer and Tracy Smith of CBS Sunday Morning came out. While speaking with Smith, he shared thoughts in a chat made public that day. Among the interview he’s comparing mental illness with physical diseases like cancer, which was the cause of his wife’s demise, Nancy Dolman, in 2010.

“It has been a nightmare for the family, ” Short responded. “On the other hand, the recognition that mental health and cancer, like my wife, are both illnesses and sometimes, unfortunately, with diseases, they are terminal.”

He disclosed that Katherine had been struggling with serious mental health issues for a long time, “My daughter struggled for quite a while with very serious mental health problems Borderline personality disorder, and other things and she tried to live the best life she could up to the point when she just wasn’t able to anymore.”

Even though he had an idea of how serious her problems were, Short confessed that the sorrow has been barely bearable for the tragedy of losing her and his sons, Oliver and Henry.

Martin Short Says Grandchildren Helped Him Find Hope After Katherine’s Death

Martin Short confessed that the sorrow after his daughter Katherine’s death made him wonder about life.

That day, stepping into the car, he said, “It hit me – I’m seventy-five.” A quiet moment. Then came the question: why keep moving forward? Honestly, what even is it all for?

Still, it was during a visit to his son Oliver’s home in Newport Beach, California, that things shifted for Short. Living there are Oliver, his wife Haylen, along with their children. The moment changed how he saw everything.

“I got to Newport, and these two grandsons, five and four, just jumped, ‘Papa, let’s play giant, ‘” Short told. “And with that instant, you realize, ‘That’s why. That’s why.”