Martin Short Breaks His Silence on His Daughter’s Tragic Death: ‘She Was Just Saying,’ ‘Dad, Let Me Go’

Martin Short has opened up about his grief.

The acclaimed actor, 76, was left devastated when daughter Katherine Short died by suicide in February at the age of 42.

“You know, it’s been a nightmare for the family,” Short, who lost his wife, Nancy Dolman, in 2010 after a battle with ovarian cancer, said during an interview with CBS Sunday Morning that aired on Sunday, May 10. “But the understanding [is] that mental health and cancer, like my wife, 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,” the Only Murders in the Building star added. “So, Nan’s last words to me were: ‘Martin, let me go.’ And what she [Katherine] was just saying was, ‘Dad, let me go’.”

Overwhelmed by loss, Short admitted, “I was thinking, OK, I’m 75, why am I continuing? What is the point of this?”

And then he visited his grandsons, aged 5 and 4. “And suddenly you go, oh, that’s why. That’s why. OK,” he said.

“I’ve just been in that situation many times,” he said of moving on after loss. “You head toward the light.”

Following Katherine’s death on February 23, 2026, Short released a statement, via People, saying she would “be remembered for the light and joy she brought into the world.”

As per a Variety report, the social worker died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to the Los Angeles coroner. She was the eldest of three children adopted by Short and his late wife.

As previously revealed by In Touch, Short will also open up about dealing with grief throughout his life in an upcoming Netflix documentary called Marty, Life is Short, due to be released May 12.

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