Martin Short speaks out on 'heartbreak' of daughter's death by suicide - Central Oregon Daily

As Martin Short fights the stigma against suicide, he has shared the "devastating" impact of his daughter's death earlier this year. Speaking at Selena Gomez's fourth annual Rare Impact Fund Benefit in Los Angeles on Oct. 14, the "Father of the Bride" actor, 76, admitted that "It has been a very difficult year for me," according to People. The February death of his eldest daughter, 42-year-old Katherine Hartley Short, by suicide "has been the heartbreak of our family, as you can imagine," he added. In the past eight months, he said, his family has come to understand that mental illness – like cancer, which his late wife Nancy Dolman Short battled until her death in August 2010 – is a disease. "They are diseases, and sometimes diseases are terminal," he told the fundraiser's attendees. Hartley Short, who died Feb. 23, was a licensed clinical social worker who specialized in adoption, anxiety, depression, personality disorders, grief and loss, suicidality and relationship difficulties. Throughout her career, she was devoted to "promoting open, compassionate conversations about mental health," Short explained.