Martin Short Reflects on Devastating Losses in Candid CBS Interview

Martin Short opened up about his staggering personal losses in a candid interview on CBS Sunday Mornings, marking his first public remarks since the death of his daughter, Katherine Short.

Katherine Short died at age 42 in her Hollywood Hills home in February, in an apparent suicide. Short also mourned the loss of his lifelong friends, Rob and Michelle Reiner, who passed away in December, as well as actress Catherine O’Hara in January. Additionally, he was close to actress Diane Keaton, who died last October.

Short has maintained a low profile since Katherine’s death. His interview with CBS Sunday Mornings aired just two days before the release of his new documentary, “Marty, Life Is Short”, which debuted on Tuesday.

“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.’ 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.”

CBS correspondent Tracy Smith asked Short how he copes with such profound grief, given his history of losing both parents before age 20 and his brother during childhood.

“You can’t. You just have to breathe in, breathe out. … It’s been a nightmare for the family,” he said. “But the understanding [is] that mental health and cancer, like [with] my wife, are both diseases — and sometimes with diseases they are terminal.”

The documentary, “Marty, Life Is Short”, features footage from Short’s home videos, including tributes to his late wife, Nancy (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. “So Nan’s last words to me were, ‘Mart, let me go.’ And she was just saying, ‘Dad, let me go.’”

Short’s reflections come amid his efforts to process unimaginable loss while sharing his story through his new film.