Martin Short Opened Up About 'Tough' Time Raising His Kids After Wife Nancy's 2010 Death
Martin Short opened up about losing his wife, Nancy, years before tragedy struck his family again with the death of his daughter, Katherine.
The 75-year-old Canadian comedy star married actress Nancy Dolman in 1980. The couple went on to adopt three children together, Katherine, 42, Oliver Patrick, 39, and Henry Hayter, 36. Nancy died of ovarian cancer in 2010.
Short gave a rare insight into life as a single dad to his three children after his wife’s death in a 2019 interview with AARP. “Our marriage was a triumph,” he said. “So it’s tough. She died in 2010, but I still communicate with her all the time. It’s ‘Hey Nan,’ you know?” How would she react to this decision or that, especially regarding our three kids.”
“I believe that when people die, they zoom into the people that love them. This idea that it just ends, and don’t speak of them—that’s wrong,” he said. “That’s based on denial that we’re all going to die. So to me, she’s still here. At the same time, her death emboldened me to take risks. With real tragedy, you become a little more daring. It’s the yin to the yang: the positive part of life’s dark side.”
Short previously shared other memories of grieving with his children in the years since Nancy’s passing.
In a November 2014 appearance on The Meredith Vieira Show, the Only Murders in the Building actor recalled a touching moment he shared with his children following his wife’s death at the family’s cottage in Canada.
“(Nancy) had once said to me, ‘I don’t want a funeral and I don’t want a memorial. Throw a party, or not.’ She just was so irritated that she was losing this battle, she didn’t want to think about it,” Short recalled. “So I just followed her wishes. We went up, we had a party with about 30 close friends and family. She was cremated. The kids and I went into a boat, we sprinkled the ashes into the water, and we jumped into the ashes.”
“It’s been a tough two years for my children,” Martin also told The Guardian in October 2012. “This is the thing of life that we live in denial about, that it will ever happen to us or our loved ones, and when it does you gain a little and you suffer a little. There’s no big surprise.”
Short, whose children lived most of their lives out of the public eye, lost his daughter to suicide on Monday, February 25.
“It is with profound grief that we confirm the passing of Katherine Hartley Short,” read a statement from the Short family. “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.” Katherine was a social worker working in a private practice.