[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
Martin Short‘s daughter was struggling for years before she tragically died by suicide on Monday night…
Before her sudden passing, Katherine Short remained largely out of the spotlight. She attended a few public events with the beloved actor over the years, including the 2011 Vanity Fair Oscar Party (pictured above). But other than that? Katherine chose to live a quieter life away from the limelight and work as a social worker, therapist, and charity volunteer. We didn’t get a lot of details about her life beyond that. In light of her death, however, friends are coming forward to paint a picture of what went on behind the scenes, and it’s heartbreaking to hear.
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Rande Levine, founder of the dog charity Karma Rescue, for which Katherine served on the board, told Dailymail.com on Thursday that she knew her friend was struggling with her mental health, but she always put others’ well-being before herself:
“She was such a wonderful, giving, loving human being. I’m picturing her face right now, laughing. It’s just so devastating to find out she took her own life. I knew she was battling with that stuff. But she put her soul into helping others that were experiencing the same things she was.”
On top of suffering from mental health issues, a neighbor claimed Katherine was “sick” around the time of her death:
“Katherine pretty much kept to herself. She had been sick, struggling with some sort of physical illness. She must have been in so much anguish to have done this. It’s just so sad.”
It is unknown what sort of illness Katherine was dealing with, as the neighbor didn’t give any details. Rande also didn’t mention any sort of sickness while talking to Dailymail.com. Katherine’s close pal did share some insight into her struggles with mental health, though.
According to Rande, there were several times throughout the 2010s that she had to take time off her charity work to check into an inpatient mental health facility:
“She’d say, I won’t be around, I’m going away. She’d go check into some place to boost her up again.”
Rande said she was open about her mental health struggles, but no one would ever really know unless she told you about it because she was such a “positive” person:
“I knew she was battling with this. She would talk about it. But you would never know based on how she presented herself, and how funny she was. She always was smiling, always a pleasure to be around. Every experience or connection I had with Katherine was always positive. She was so soft spoken. She was calm, she laughed a lot.”
Martin was a big part of Katherine’s life. Rande recalled:
“I’ll never forget a funny story she told me. When she adopted her dog Charlie she told her dad, ‘I just adopted a pit bull.’ He was like, ‘I think I would rather you told me you are dating somebody in ISIS.’ But she introduced Charlie to Martin and he fell in love. She showed me a video of him and the dog lying in bed together cuddling.”
Aww! Rande shared that Katherine and Martin were very close, which is what makes her death even more devastating:
“I feel so sad for her dad. They were so close. He was so supportive of her and a big part of her life. When we’d talk on the phone or email, he was always involved with her, being a supportive dad.”
We feel for Martin. No parent wants to have to say goodbye to their child.
Although Katherine and Martin had such a strong bond, she did put some distance between herself and her famous father – but for an important reason. TMZ reported that she filed a petition to change her name from “Katherine Elizabeth Short” to “Katherine Elizabeth Hartley” back in 2012, two years after the death of her mother, Nancy Dolman. She explained in the document that it all came down to safety, writing:
“My father is a public figure. I am a psychiatric social worker. I am concerned about potential harassment from future patients resulting from my association with my father.”
Sadly, you never know what can happen these days. This was probably the right call. A judge ultimately granted the change in early 2013.
It is such a shame everything Katherine went through. We continue to send our condolences to Martin and his family as the grieve her untimely death.
For resources on mental health, visit https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/find-help.
If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, help is available. Consider contacting the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, by calling, texting, or chatting, or go to 988lifeline.org.
[Image via WENN, Jimmy Kimmel Live/YouTube]
