{"id":2418919,"date":"2026-05-15T23:58:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T23:58:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2418919"},"modified":"2026-05-15T23:58:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T23:58:34","slug":"martin-short-connects-wifes-last-words-to-daughters-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/martin-short-connects-wifes-last-words-to-daughters-death\/","title":{"rendered":"Martin Short Connects Wife’s Last Words to Daughter\u2019s Death"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Sixteen years after the death of his wife, Nancy Dolan<\/strong>, Martin Short<\/strong> <\/a>is reflecting on her last words \u2014 and finding their connection to the couple\u2019s late daughter, Katherine<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cMartin, let me go,\u201d Short, 76, told The New York Times<\/em><\/a> in an interview published on Friday, May 15, recalling to the outlet Dolan\u2019s final message to her husband as paramedics rushed into their bedroom.<\/p>\n

Dolan died at age 58 in 2010 following a battle with ovarian cancer. She and Short had been married since 1980.<\/p>\n

In his NYT<\/em> sit-down, Short drew a parallel between Dolan\u2019s death and Katherine, who died by suicide at age 42<\/a> in February.<\/p>\n

\u201cKatherine was saying: \u2018Dad, let me go,\u2019\u201d he continued. \u201cI don\u2019t see any difference between mental illness as a disease and cancer as a disease. In some cases, both are terminal. And in some cases, both are survivable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Short added that the loss of his daughter was different than the loss of his wife.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is your child,\u201d he said. \u201cI am trying to head toward the light.\u201d<\/p>\n

Short and Dolan also shared sons Oliver, 40, and Henry, 36.<\/p>\n

The Only Murders in the Building<\/em> star broke his silence on Katherine\u2019s death<\/a> in a CBS Sunday Morning<\/em> interview earlier this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a nightmare for the family,\u201d he said on Sunday, May 10. \u201cBut the understanding [is] that mental health and cancer, like my wife\u2019s, are both diseases, and sometimes with diseases they are terminal. And my daughter fought for a long time with extreme mental health, borderline personality disorder, other things, and did the best she couldn\u2019t until she couldn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Related: <\/span>Why Martin Short’s Daughter Katherine Changed Her Name Before Death<\/span><\/a>
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\n\t\t\tMartin Short\u2019s daughter, Katherine Hartley Short, changed her name nearly 13 years before her death. Katherine filed to change her name to \u201cKatherine Elizabeth Hartley\u201d in October 2012, according to court documents obtained by Us Weekly. \u201cMy father is a public figure. I am a psychiatric social worker,\u201d Katherine explained of her reasoning in court [\u2026]\t\t<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Short also reflected on his multiple family deaths<\/a> in his new Netflix documentary, Marty, Life Is Short<\/em>. (In addition to Dolan and Katherine, the actor lost his older brother, David, and both parents, Olive and Charles, in an eight-year span before he turned 21.)<\/p>\n

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