Martin Short gives emotional speech about late daughter Katherine

Martin Short has given an emotional speech about his late daughter, Katherine, at Selena Gomez's Rare Impact Fund Gala.

The actor took to the stage at the presentation of the inaugural Katherine Short Legacy Award in memory of his eldest child, a social worker who helped people "through some of their hardest points", Gomez explained.

Short admitted to the gala attendees that it has been "a very difficult year for me", according to Instagram footage from the event.

Katherine died by suicide at the age of 42 in February this year at her Hollywood Hills home.

The Only Murders in the Building star shared that Katherine's sudden death "has been the heartbreak of our family, as you can imagine.

"But we have also understood in the last eight months, I think my whole family has understood, that mental health and cancer, which took my wife, for example, are both diseases.

"They are diseases, and sometimes diseases are terminal."

Short married Nancy Dolman in 1980, and they adopted three children: Katherine, Oliver, now 40, and Henry, 37.

Dolman passed away at the age of 58 in August 2010 following a battle with ovarian cancer.

Short concluded that his daughter's death "will be devastating to my soul as long as I'll live".