Martin Short opened up about the devastating parallels between the death of his wife, Nancy Dolman, and the recent loss of his daughter, Katherine Elizabeth Short.
Dolman died of ovarian cancer in 2010, while Katherine died by suicide in February.
In an interview with The New York Times published Friday, Short recalled Dolman’s final words, “Martin, let me go”, as paramedics rushed into her bedroom.
He said Katherine echoed the same sentiment, “Dad, let me go.”
“I don’t see any difference between mental illness as a disease and cancer as a disease,” Short explained. “In some cases, both are terminal. And in some cases, both are survivable.”
The Only Murders in the Building star acknowledged the unique pain of losing a child.
“This is your child,” he said. “I am trying to head toward the light.”
Her death came amid a series of staggering losses for Short, who has also mourned close friends Diane Keaton, Rob Reiner, and Catherine O’Hara in recent months.
All three appear in his new Netflix documentary Marty, Life Is Short, which he described as a love letter to Dolman. Katherine’s death is acknowledged only in a dedication at the film’s end.
In his first sit down interview since Katherine’s passing, Short told CBS Sunday Morning that her struggle with borderline personality disorder and other mental health challenges had been “a nightmare for the family.”
He admitted he has never sought therapy, instead processing grief by dictating thoughts into his phone and rewriting them.
“I think we all are in denial about our limited time on this earth,” he reflected. “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.”
Marty, Life Is Short is now streaming on Netflix.
