Martin Short’s daughter dies by suicide aged 42 in latest tragedy to rock beloved Hollywood star

Martin Short’s daughter Katherine has died aged 42.

TMZ reports Katherine died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The LAPD responded to Katherine’s Hollywood Hills home on Monday shortly after 6pm. 

A LA City Fire spokesperson confirmed to the Daily Mail that they responded to a call Monday night at 6:41 PM at Katherine’s address, but they could not verify her name for privacy. ‘ 

Short adopted Katherine and her siblings Oliver and Henry with his late wife Nancy Dolman, who died in 2010. 

Nancy, by then his wife of 30 years, passed away after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

At the time, Short’s comedy partner Steve Martin dedicated a musical elegy for Nancy, called The Great Remember (For Nancy) on one of his albums.

TMZ reports Katherine died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound – Katherine is pictured with Short and son Oliver in 2006

Speaking in 2019 about Nancy, Short described his marriage to the actress as a ‘triumph’. He admitted he still ‘talks’ to his late wife all the time and still feels her presence around him.

In an interview with AARP magazine, he said: ‘With real tragedy, you become a little more daring. It’s the yin to the yang: the positive part of life’s dark side.’

He also previously told CBC his attitude to grief is: ‘We go on.’

In his memoir, released in 2014, he described Nancy’s death as ‘by far the most awful thing I’ve been through.’

And as he supported his children through the grief of losing their mother, Short drew from his own experiences.

Speaking to youngest son Henry the night before Nancy died, he told him: ‘This will make you stronger. This will make you more determined.’

As Short and his children continue, 14 years on, to process their grief over Nancy, the actor has previously revealed the George Eliot quote that he holds dear when thinking about her.

‘Our dead are never dead to us until we have forgotten them,’ he told the Hollywood reporter, before adding: ‘We were together for 36 years. I didn’t want to forget Nancy.’