Martin Short has opened up about the loss.
The comedian drew a connection between the last words his late wife Nancy Dolman said to him before she died in 2010 and his daughter Katherine’s suicide in February.
During an interview with The New York Times on Friday, Mr. Short recalled Mr. Dolman telling him, “Martin, let me go.”
“Katherine was like, ‘Dad, let me go,'” the actor continued. “I don’t think there’s a difference between mental illness as an illness and cancer as an illness. Sometimes both are terminal, and sometimes both are survivable.”
Dolman, who married Short in 1980, died of ovarian cancer at age 58.
In addition to Catherine, who died at the age of 42, the couple also have two adopted sons, Oliver, 40, and Henry, 36.
But Short, 76, said losing his daughter felt different than losing his wife.
“This is your child,” the “Only Murders in the Building” star said. “I want to move towards the light.”
Short is no stranger to grief, having lost her older brother David in a car accident when she was 12 and her mother to cancer when she was 17.
His father died from complications of a stroke just two years later.
Last weekend, Short spoke candidly for the first time about Katherine’s sudden death.
“It’s been a nightmare for my family,” he told “CBS Sunday Morning.”
Short said her daughter “struggled with extreme mental health and borderline personality disorder for a long time and did the best she could until she couldn’t anymore.”
The “Father of the Bride” star added that he felt it was important for him to speak out about the circumstances of Katherine’s death.
“If I were to go to the audience I was in and ask, ‘How many people have you lost to suicide?’ You would raise your hand and you would be stunned. ‘How many people in your family have suffered from mental health problems?’ You would be stunned to see that hand go up,” he elaborated.
“So why pretend this is your pain?” he added. “By sharing your pain, you may be able to relieve the pain of others.”
Katherine was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in her Hollywood Hills home on February 23rd.
According to TMZ, police found a suicide note at the scene, but its contents have not been made public.
Catherine worked as a social worker and had a service dog named after folk singer Joni Mitchell to help treat her “mental illness.”
News of her death broke on February 24th.
“It is with deep sadness that we confirm the passing of Katherine Hartley Short,” a spokesperson for Short confirmed to Page Six at the time.
“The Short family is devastated by this loss and requests privacy at this time,” the statement continued. “Catherine was loved by all and will be remembered for the light and joy she brought to the world.”
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this article, please call or text the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988.
