Katherine Shorts Shocking Connection to Nick Reiner

Hollywood is reeling from yet another high-profile death after Martin Short's daughter, Katherine, took her own life on Monday.

But as details emerge of the and mental health struggles the 42-year-old battled over the years, a heartbreaking link has emerged to another recent Tinseltown tragedy - namely, the December murders of Rob and Michele Reiner.

The Daily Mail can exclusively reveal that Katherine Short was childhood friends with Nick Reiner, the troubled son of the famed When Harry Met Sally director who is now charged with killing both his parents. He has pleaded not guilty.

The Reiner and Short families have been close for decades, with Rob and actor Martin, 75, enjoying a particularly close friendship within a tight-knit Hollywood circle that also includes the likes of Billy Crystal, , Larry David, Eugene Levy and Conan O'Brien.

Martin and his late wife, actress Nancy Dolman, bought a mansion in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of in 1984 and chose it as their base to raise their three adopted children: Katherine; Oliver, now 39; and Henry, 36.

That home is less than 15 minutes from Brentwood, where the Reiners lived and raised their brood: Jake, 34; Nick, 32; and Romy, 28. It is understood that the children all often played together on weekends.

'Martin and Rob were very close. They were in each other's inner circle, and they lived not far from each other,' a source told the Daily Mail.

'There were holidays together, birthday parties, dinner parties and the kids were always around, always in each other's company, they pretty much grew up together.'

The Daily Mail has contacted Short's representative for comment. 

Though Nick and Katherine had a 10-year age difference and went to different local high schools - Nick attended Wildwood while Katherine was at Marymount - they, out of all the children, formed a particularly close bond.

'Katherine and Nick bonded over being the children of famous people, it was a connection they had because they both tried to overcome it, they both tried to find their own way in life and it was very challenging. Hollywood kids are often miserable, it's common,' our source said.

'They wanted their own identity, they didn't want to be called so-and-so's kid.'

Indeed, that may be why, in 2012, Katherine filed court documents to have her name changed from to Katherine Hartley. 

When asked what her reasoning for the change was, she wrote: '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.' 

And it may also be why Katherine chose to leave her native Los Angeles and attend college on the East Coast at New York University, before later returning to settle in the Hollywood Hills, a 30 minute drive from the family home.

By contrast, her two brothers chose to remain in the Pacific Palisades as adults.