I was terrified my dad Val Kilmer would die
Actor’s daughter on the cancer he tried to cure with power of prayer
HOLLYWOOD idol Val Kilmer’s daughter has told of her terror as he was rushed to hospital with throat cancer.
The star of Top Gun and The Doors spent months brushing aside pleas to get treatment for a growing lump in his throat.
The 60-year-old had believed his Christian Scientist faith and the power of prayer would help heal him.
But then came the day Mercedes – now making a film with her dad – thought he was going to die. Kilmer collapsed at his Los Angeles home in 2015 when his tumour finally burst.
The 28-year-old actress said: “He was rushed to hospital.
“It got so big it caused a blood vessel to pop. He was bleeding out of his mouth. I remember almost fainting in the hospital.
DEVASTATING
“They gave me juice and I had to sit on the floor. Then the doctor said he had stage 4 cancer – he hadn’t been formally diagnosed until then.
“It was devastating. I thought that was it. Because it was in such an advanced state, I didn’t think he’d survive long.
“People had really wanted him to get it attended to but he had faith in his body’s ability to fight it off. It was obvious he was sick but he didn’t want to go to the doctor, which I respect He wanted to do things his way.”
Kilmer needed a tracheotomy as part of his recovery after the tumour was removed, leaving him hardly able to talk.
Mercedes opened up on her dad’s cancer battle as she spoke about working with him on new crime
thriller Paydirt. She is in a role she is used to – playing his character’s daughter. Kilmer, who was also in Batman Forever, stars as a disgraced drugs bust sheriff given a chance to redeem himself by stopping another heist.
Mercedes – whose mum is British star Joanne Whalley, Kilmer’s co-star in 1988 hit Willow – plays a young district attorney.
And Mercedes reckons her dad is taking his second chance at life pretty well – even though his voice
box is so damaged by surgery that he croaks through most of his lines.
“I’m so proud of being in this film because it’s so rare we see an actor with a disability that is so central to acting,” she says, speaking from her New Mexico home. “It shows it’s possible and I hope this is going to open the door to even more people.
“Even though my dad’s speech is compromised, he is such a good actor he is able to communicate physically and circumvent that.
“He actually never stops talking. For someone with such compromised speech he doesn’t shut up ever, which is incredible.”