Ron Howard says Katherine Short died at 42 after mental health battle

ron howard covers Martin Short after he said his late daughter Katherine Short battled a long time with extreme mental health issues before her death at age 42. Short said the family has lived through repeated loss, and that history has shaped how he handles public work and private grief.

Martin Short on Katherine

Katherine Short died on Feb. 23, and Martin Short told CBS Sunday Morning that she “did the best she could until she couldn’t” in that fight. He also said, “it’s been a nightmare for the family,” a blunt line that matches the way he has described the toll of losing his daughter.

Short said, “My daughter fought for a long time with extreme mental health, borderline personality disorder, other things.” He added that her final words to him were, “Dad, let me go.” Those details move the story beyond the usual celebrity grief statement and into the terms Short chose to describe the end of his daughter’s life.

Grief after Nancy Dolman

Short said he has already lived through the deaths of his parents, older brother and wife Nancy Dolman, who died of ovarian cancer nearly 16 years before he spoke to CBS Sunday Morning. He said, “What had developed in me was this muscle of survival and handling grief, and perspective on it,” then tied that to the stage with, “If you’ve gone through that, an audience not liking you is really not that important anymore.”

He also said, “The understanding that mental health and cancer — like my [wife’s] — are both diseases, and sometimes with diseases they’re terminal,” drawing a direct line between two kinds of loss in his family. Dolman and Katherine are the two deaths Short has now described most openly, and those remarks frame grief as something he has had to keep carrying while still working.

Shows, sons and Tuesday

Short postponed upcoming shows after Katherine was found dead, then returned to the public eye last week at the Los Angeles premiere of his upcoming documentary, “Marty, Life Is Short.” He attended with his sons Oliver, 40, and Henry, 36, which put the family back in public view even as the loss remained the focus.

Short said his two young grandsons are why he has continued his career, and he put it plainly: “People have to do things in difficult times and the mark of the man is: ‘Can you do it?’” “Marty, Life Is Short” premieres Tuesday on Netflix, and Short’s comments suggest the project arrives with his grief still close to the surface, not tucked away behind promotion.