Val Kilmer has passed away at the age of 65, with his daughter Mercedes Kilmer confirming the sad news to the New York Times on Tuesday
Val Kilmer, the iconic film star who played Batman, has tragically died aged 65.
The star’s daughter Mercedes Kilmer, confirmed the heartbreaking news on Tuesday evening, when she revealed to the New York Times that he had passed away in Los Angeles as a result of pneumonia.
The screen icon, who is best remembered for his roles as Batman in Batman Forever and Iceman in Top Gun, has enjoyed a long standing career which has earned him the devoted adoration of millions of fans worldwide.
Yet despite a glittering Hollywood career, which also included portraying music legend Jim Morrison in 1991’s The Doors, the actor wasn’t without his own health struggles, having sadly been diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014.
As a result of his condition, Kilmer underwent both radiotherapy and chemotherapy for his cancer, and ultimately required a tracheostomy, a special surgical procedure to make a hole in his neck to breathe after his throat swelled to a life threatening degree.
The latter permanently damaged his vocal cords and consequentially forever altered his speaking voice.
In a candid insight into his health battle in the Amazon Prime documentary entitled Val, Kilmer laid bare his experience of throat cancer and how his life had changed irrevocably with the loss of his voice – and the artificial voice box he had to use to communicate.
“I obviously am sounding much worse than I feel. I can’t speak without plugging this hole [in his throat],” he said.
Yet it’s not just communicating that became a chore, as Val also had to be fed through a tube as a result of his illness.
“You have to make the choice to breathe or to eat. It’s an obstacle that is very present with whoever sees me,” he said.
The harrowing cancer diagnosis came completely out of the blue for Kilmer, who admitted he only realised something was seriously wrong when he coughed up ‘coagulated blood’ and called an ambulance before passing out.
When the actor woke up in a Santa Monica hospital he discovered he had been given an emergency tracheotomy for throat cancer.
“This is a tracheotomy,” he said while holding his hand to his throat, “to help me breathe because the glands in my throat swelled up as well.”
