Martin Short opens up about his 'staggering' loss in first interview since daughter's death: 'A n...

The actor has said goodbye to several loved ones recently, including his daughter, sisterinlaw, and friends Catherine O'Hara, Rob Reiner, and Diane Keaton. Martin Short opens up about his 'staggering' loss in first interview since daughter's death: 'A nightmare' The actor has said goodbye to several loved ones recently, including his daughter, sisterinlaw, and friends Catherine O'Hara, Rob Reiner, and Diane Keaton. By Ryan Coleman :maxbytes(150000):stripicc()/RyanColemanauthorphoto0081ce8f0254478080f35972c433877b.

The actor has said goodbye to several loved ones recently, including his daughter, sister-in-law, and friends Catherine O'Hara, Rob Reiner, and Diane Keaton.

Martin Short opens up about his 'staggering' loss in first interview since daughter's death: 'A nightmare'

The actor has said goodbye to several loved ones recently, including his daughter, sister-in-law, and friends Catherine O'Hara, Rob Reiner, and Diane Keaton.

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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May 10, 2026 3:34 p.m. ET

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Katherine Short and her father, Martin Short, in 2011. Credit:

Gregg DeGuire/FilmMagic

- Martin Short has opened up about the recent death of his daughter, Katherine Short.

- "It's been a nightmare for the family," he said in his first sit-down interview since her death.

- Katherine died by suicide on Feb. 23 after her father lost his friends Catherine O'Hara, Rob Reiner, and Diane Keaton.

Martin Short has broken his silence on the recent death of his daughter.

After Katherine Short was discovered dead at 42 in her Hollywood Hills home on Feb. 23, a representative for the *Only Murders in the Building *star expressed Martin's "profound grief."

"The Short family is devastated by this loss and asks for privacy at this time," the representative said. "Katherine was beloved by all and will be remembered for the light and joy she brought into the world."

Two days later, Short's cause of death was confirmed as a result of suicide. The comedian has since kept a low profile as he prepares to release *Marty, Life Is Short*, a new documentary about him, on May 12.

Now, Short has given his first sit-down interview since his daughter's death, opening up to *CBS Sunday Morning *correspondent Tracy Smith.

"It's been a nightmare for the family," he told her on Sunday's episode. "But the understanding [is] that mental health and cancer, like [with] my wife, are both diseases — and sometimes with diseases they are terminal."

Martin Short addresses his daughter's recent death in an interview on 'CBS Sunday Morning' on May 10, 2026.

Several deaths have rocked Short's life recently. The actor has also lost his friends and collaborators Diane Keaton, Rob Reiner, and Catherine O'Hara, all within the span of a few months. Meanwhile, *Marty, Life Is Short *functions as a love letter to his late wife, Nancy, or Nan, who died of ovarian cancer in 2010.

"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," Short said in the interview. "So Nan's last words to me were, 'Mart, let me go.' And she was just saying, "Dad, let me go.'"

Martin Short documentary serves as a love letter to late wife Nancy Dolman

Cause of death confirmed for Martin Short's daughter Katherine

"If I wasn't going to talk about this, then I would have pushed the documentary, because it is — listen, it's called *Marty, Life Is Short*," the actor said. "And suddenly, last October, I lost Diane Keaton on the same day I lost my sister-in-law, Nancy's sister, to cancer. Then Rob and Michelle [Reiner, his wife] have been my lifelong friends for 40 years … And then Catherine O'Hara and then my daughter. I mean, it's been in four months. Staggering."

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Martin Short at the Los Angeles premiere of 'Marty, Life Is Short' in 2026.

Alberto E. Rodriguez/WireImage

When Smith asked how Short has been able to comprehend and cope with the losses, he responded, "You can't. You just have to breathe in, breathe out."

Still, the comedian, who has "never been in therapy," described how he has at least tried to process his grief. "What I do is, I dictate into my phone and then I transcribe it and I look at it and rewrite it and put it away," he said. "You find if you're repeating your same things, maybe you're moving on a little bit."

Short concluded the interview by offering some insight. "I think we all are in denial about our limited time in this earth," he said. "It's very difficult to accept it... But the more you accept it, I think it does lift you and make you feel that this is a complicated little journey, life. And the more we approach it with wisdom, probably the happier we'll be."

Watch Short's full interview on *CBS Sunday Morning *above.

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Source: Celebrity

Published: May 10, 2026 at 11:00PM on Source: RED MAG

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