Martin Short is opening up about family losses he endured early in his life and how he has coped with their deaths in the years since.
Childhood Losses
Martin Short appeared at the Netflix Is a Joke Presents: This Better Be Funny with David Letterman event in Los Angeles on May 7th.
Short joined fellow comedians David Letterman and Paul Shaffer, discussing several topics like Short’s early career, friendship with Steve Martin, and his late wife Nancy Dolman.
Then, Letterman brought up Short’s upcoming Netflix documentary titled Marty, Life Is Short. He noted that the “one thing that struck me was your childhood.”
He added, “You came from a funny Irish Catholic family and then suddenly your brother died in a car accident. And then your mother got cancer. And then your father died. That’s an incredible amount of loss very early.”
Short said, “Yeah, I was around 20. My older brother David died first. He was the star of the family. Then my mother was diagnosed with cancer at his funeral and died three years later. My father died the year after that.”
He continued, “So there was definitely a period where life changed completely.”
Short was 12 when his brother died, and his mother and father passed before he was 21 years old.
Coping with Their Deaths
In an interview with People, Short, who was 34 years old at the time, talked about coping with his family tragedies.
“There isn’t a period of my life that I don’t like to think about or wouldn’t go back to,” he shared. “It sounds like a tragic family, but it really isn’t.”
He continued, “My mother had cancer, and she had been ill and then in remission since I was 13. She was a remarkable person; both my parents were. So I never looked at it as if it was a tragedy — that I didn’t have them my whole life. You learn some sense of priorities. Our whole family took the attitude that if you have wonderful moments, don’t second-guess them, just enjoy them.”
Wife and Daughter Pass
Along with the three deaths when he was quite young, Martin Short has had to deal with more recent family deaths, too.
His actress wife, Nancy Dolman, died in August 2010 from ovarian cancer. The two shared three children: Oliver, Henry, and Katherine.
Unfortunately, Katherine died by suicide on February 23rd, 2026, at just 42 years old. The Short family gave a statement to People about her passing.
It read, “It is with profound grief that we confirm the passing of Katherine Hartley Short. 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.”
Back in Public
On May 6th, Short made his first public appearance since Katherine’s death. He attended the L.A. special screening of his Netflix documentary.
Along with his sons Oliver and Henry, Short was joined by Shaffer, Selena Gomez, Kate Hudson, Eugene Levy, Jimmy Kimmel, Jerry Seinfeld, and Billy Crystal.