Selena Gomez tears up as she honours Martin Short's late daughter Katherine

The pop icon launches a new Rare Impact Award in honour of her 'Only Murders in the Building' costar's daughter

Web Desk

Published October 15, 2026

Katherine Short passed away due to suicide earlier this year at age 42

Selena Gomez is honouring her Only Murders in the Building costar Martin Short’s daughter after her tragic death.

During the 4th annual Rare Impact Fund Benefit on Wednesday, October 14, the pop icon introduced The Katherine Short Legacy Award, “in memory of Katherine Short, Martin Short’s daughter, who passed away by suicide earlier this year.”

“Katherine was a social worker who devoted her own career to helping people through some of their hardest points,” Gomez said as her voice broke. “This award will carry her name forward by honouring people who have made that same kind of commitment to their communities.”

The actress-singer then invited Short on stage, describing him as her “friend for many years” and someone who “deeply loves his family.”

Calling Gomez “one of the most brilliant women in the world,” Short, 76, then reflected on the grief following his daughter’s death.

“It’s been a very difficult year for me, needless to say. It has been the heartbreak of our family, as you can imagine. But we have also understood in the last eight months… that mental health and cancer, which took my wife, for example, are both diseases,” the comedian said, referring to his late wife, Nancy Dolman, who passed away in 2010 after being diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

He called Gomez’s work “so important” for “raising these kinds of funds and awareness to help people understand that mental health is simply an illness, not to be hidden in the shadows or perceived as a family embarrassment.”

The Rare Impact Fund has raised more than $30 million to support youth mental health organisations and initiatives.