The complicated life of Val Kilmer

He was one of the most acclaimed young actors and fan idols of the '80s and '90s. Val Kilmer's career peaked without him noticing, but fame got into his head and took out the best of him.

For some time now, he has lived outside the public eye and has been dealing with the consequences of a terrible throat cancer. Let's see how the life of this spectacular actor has evolved over the years.

Val Kilmer was born in Los Angeles in 1959. His family belonged to the Christian Science, and he studied in one of the organization's Secondary Schools. He met fellow actor Kevin Spacey there and started to fantasize about becoming an actor.

His popularity would come thanks to Broadway's play, 'Slab Boys'. In the play, he worked alongside two of the greatest actors in cinematic history: Kevin Bacon and Sean Penn.

From his early works on the big screen, we have hits like the comedy 'Top Secret' (1984) and the unforgettable 'Top Gun' (1986), directed by Tony Scott.

It was this role in the middle of the 80s that turned him into a Hollywood star.

In the magical 'Willow' (1988) he played a heroic knight, emphasizing his appeal as a comedy actor and an idol for younger viewers.

His performance as Jim Morrison in the Oliver Stone movie 'The Doors' (1991) was critically acclaimed, even though the film itself got mixed reviews.

In 1995, he was cast as the classic DC hero in Joel Schumacher's 'Batman Forever'. And just a day after wrapping up shooting, he started working on Michael Mann's movie 'Heat' with Robert de Niro and Al Pacino.

These movies and others like 'True Romance' and 'Tombstone' were proof of Val Kilmer's status as one of the most prized actors in Hollywood. However, not everything was as perfect as it seemed…

At the time, the actor was already known as 'Psycho Kilmer' due to his problematic behavior on set. According to Entertainment Weekly, colleagues, directors, and production crew members in films like 'Batman Forever', 'The Saint', or 'The Doors' had to endure the actor's bursts of anger and insolence.

In an audition, Val Kilmer was reported by an actress for aggression and by a cameraman for burning his face with a cigarette. Moreover, some of the directors he worked with didn't speak very highly of him. Joel Schumacher, for example: "He was rude and inappropriate. I was forced to tell him that this would not be tolerated for one more second." His colleague John Frankenheimer said: "I will never climb Mount Everest, and I will never work with Val Kilmer again."

His bad reputation started to cost him some important movie projects, and, along with that, he had a personal crisis. The actor's dark era began with the film 'The Island of Dr. Moreau' (1996), which was not only a box-office failure but meant a critical turn in Kilmer's career.

The economic crisis of 2008 also hit the actor pretty hard: he lost most of his 25-square-foot ranch in New Mexico —the state where he almost ran for governor in 2010. In addition, his professional career was sinking, he was divorcing Joanne Whalley, and, to top it all off, he was diagnosed with cancer.

In 2014, Kilmer discovered that he was dealing with the worst enemy possible: cancer. In Nashville, while he was on tour with his show 'Citizen Twain' — one of the biggest projects of his life — he found a lump in his throat.

The night before finding the lump, there was something that startled the actor. As he detailed in his memoirs, Kilmer explained that after a cough, he woke up in a pool of his own blood.

After several medical examinations, the actor was diagnosed with throat cancer. At first, he denied the illness to the public, but once the treatment had started, he had no other choice but to tell the truth.

It was a crucial moment for Kilmer: He was not only fighting for his life but for his religious beliefs as well. As we have mentioned, the actor is a Christian Scientist. His religion — founded in 1879 by Mary Baker — states that praying is the most effective physical cure and should not be combined with any other medical treatment.

Luckily for Kilmer, his family convinced him to get chemotherapy. His children Jack and Mercedes Kilmer, and his then-wife, Joanne Whalley, never followed the actor's steps in Christian Science.

As Kilmer explained to The New York Times: "I just didn't want to experience their fear, which was profound. I would've had to go away, and I just didn't want to be without them."

Val Kilmer has also stressed how important his ex-girlfriend, Cher, has been during his illness. In fact, she was the one accompanying the actor in the ambulance the night he collapsed.

He recalls that, in his darkest time, "despite the fact that I was covered in blood, I caught her eye and bounced my brows like Groucho Marx.… Cher was bashful to be busted but then couldn't help laughing out loud at the audacity."

Finally, after chemotherapy and radiotherapy, Val Kilmer recovered from throat cancer. However, the tracheotomy he was forced to undergo left him without a voice.

Now, Kilmer can only talk by pressing a button he had installed in his throat. As he says in his documentary: "I can't speak without plugging this hole in my throat. You have to make the choice to breathe or to eat."

However, although there are some limitations, his condition hasn't stopped him from working on movies and shows.

For example, we have seen Kilmer in the recent sequel of one of his most iconic '80s movies, 'Top Gun: Maverick'. There, he made a brief cameo as Maverick's eternal frenemy: Iceman.

As the actor wrote in his memoirs: "It was like no time had passed at all… We blew a lot of takes laughing so much. It was really fun… special."

After the premiere of the sequel at the Cannes Festival in 2022 and the 5-minute standing ovation it received, Kilmer wrote on his Instagram account: "I'm overwhelmed to see the love and appreciation for Top Gun. I'm feeling very blessed."

The memoirs we referred to, are collected in the book 'I'm Your Huckleberry' in 2020. It became a best-seller during the Covid-19 pandemic. In the book, the actor shares many of the things he experienced during his extensive career - both the good and the bad…

Just a year later, in 2021, 'Val' premiered: the documentary about Kilmer's life, directed by Ting Poo and Leo Scott. In the film Kilmer's son, Jack, voices his father. It explores the 40-year professional career of the actor through never-seen footage taken by Kilmer himself.

In the picture above: Val Kilmer's children, Mercedes and Jack, during the premiere of the documentary.

Apart from his recent appearance in Top Gun's sequel, the actor has also participated in other movies like 'Song to Song', 'The Snowman' and 'The Super' (the three of them released in 2017); in the French comedy 'First Born' (2018); and in 'The Birthday Cake' in 2021.

As he has confirmed in his memoirs, Kilmer has been single for almost 20 years. He says that former actress Daryl Hannah, whom he dated briefly in 2001, is the woman of his life.

In his memoirs, Kilmer writes: "I knew I would love her with my whole heart forever and that love has lost none of its strength. I am still in love with Daryl."

While Kilmer is in his sixties, we don't know what the future holds for the actor. Yet, despite the terrible consequences of his cancer, he has shown that he is a fighter.