Martin Short recently reflected on his late wife Nancy Dolman’s final words — and how they mirrored the last thing he heard from his daughter prior to her suicide.
The “Only Murders in the Building” star got candid about grief and loss in a new sit-down with the New York Times, recalling some of Dolman’s dying moments.
Dolman died at age 58 in 2010 following a battle with ovarian cancer. She and Short had been married since 1980.
“Martin, let me go,” Short recalled her saying as paramedics raced into their bedroom.
The 76-year-old funnyman went on to connect the death of his wife to that of his daughter, Katherine, who died by suicide in February.
“Katherine was saying: Dad, let me go,” Short added.
“I don’t see any difference between mental illness as a disease and cancer as a disease,” the actor continued. “In some cases, both are terminal. And in some cases, both are survivable.”
Still, Short said losing his daughter did not hit the same way, saying: “This is your child. I am trying to head toward the light.”
In addition to Katherine, Short and Dolman also share sons Oliver, 40, and Henry, 36.
Short is all too familiar with grief. He lost his brother in a car accident when he was just 12 and his mother died about five years later, when he was 17. His father died from complications of a stroke two years after that.
In a sit-down with CBS, Short revealed the new documentary of his life, “Marty, Life Is Short,” was dedicated to both his daughter and his longtime friend, the late actor and comedian Catherine O’Hara.
“Last October, I lost Diane Keaton on the same day I lost my sister-in-law, Nancy’s sister, to cancer,” Short said. “And then Rob and Michelle (Reiner) 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. Staggering.”
Short also explained how he manages to move forward and find joy amid all the loss.
“I think we all are in denial about our limited time on this Earth. It’s very difficult to accept it,” Short said. “But the more you accept it, I think it does lift you and make you feel that this is a complicated journey, this life, and the more you accept it with wisdom, the happier you’ll be.”
“Marty, Life is Short” is available to stream on Netflix.