Val Kilmer Opens Up About His 2-Year Battle with Throat Cancer and How It Changed His Life

Val Kilmer is opening up about his battle with cancer and how it changed his life.

The Snowman actor was joined by his children with ex-wife Joanne Whalley, Mercedes, 26, and Jack, 22, for an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, in which he shed some light on his recovery.

Kilmer’s two-year fight with throat cancer has “taken its toll,” according to the article, which notes that a procedure on his trachea has made his voice raspy and left him short of breath.

Confusion has surrounded the state of the actor’s health since he denied Michael Douglas’s claim that he had cancer in a November 2016 Facebook post.

Later, while taking questions from fans on Reddit, Kilmer elaborated on his denial. “(Douglas) was probably trying to help me ’cause press probably asked where I was these days and I did have a healing of cancer, but my tongue is still swollen altho (sic) healing all the time,” he wrote. “Because I don’t sound my normal self yet people think I may still be under the weather.”

Kilmer credits his Christian Scientist faith in helping with his recovery, and has undergone chemotherapy, according to THR.

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Not long after the actor was diagnosed with cancer, his daughter Mercedes was involved in a bad car accident that left her with a scar down her leg. “We were in the same hospital at the same time,” she said of her dad.

Kilmer’s son Jack added, “I was just, you know, miserable, distraught, sitting next to these two.”

The Top Gun star is also working on improving his mental health, saying he was “too serious” during the height of his career. “I’d get upset when things like Oscars and recognition failed to come my way,” he explained.

“I would like to have more Oscars than anybody,” he added. “Meryl Streep must feel pretty good, you know? It must feel nice to know that everyone loves her. It’s about being loved.”