Music star Cher shared a heartwarming tribute to her ex-boyfriend and Batman actor Val Kilmer. This comes after the actor’s daughter confirmed he died on April 1 aged 65.
His daughter was the one to break the news
Kilmer’s daughter, Mercedes Kilmer, told The New York Times that her father died aged 65 on April 1 after a long battle with cancer.
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Val Kilmer was best known for his role as Batman as well as his character Iceman in the Top Gun movie franchise.
His last role was three years ago
Kilmer’s last on-screen appearance was three years ago in 2022 when he had a cameo in Top Gun: Maverick, with his real life health struggles being portrayed on screen and worked into his character.
The actor suffered from throat cancer, which he was diagnosed with in 2014. He had to undergo both radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Kilmer also had a tracheostomy which caused serious damage to his vocal cords.
This was worked into the script
Kilmer’s health issues were worked into the script of Top Gun: Maverick where his character didn’t really speak, and AI was used to recreate his parts in the movie.
The actor received a lot of love following his death from fans and co-stars alike.
Cher had been supporting him in treatment
Cher and Kilmer had dated from 1982 to 1984, and although the actor was diagnosed years after the two had gone their separate ways, Cher had been supporting him through his journey with treatment.
She wrote a heartfelt tribute post on Twitter/X following his death.
She kept it short and sweet
In the post, Cher wrote, “VALUS, Will miss u, U Were Funny, crazy, pain in the a**, GREAT FRIEND, kids????U, BRILLIANT as Mark Twain, BRAVE here during ur sickness.”
The singer has spoken about Kilmer in previous interviews, telling the Howard Stern Show in November that she was ‘madly in love’ with Kilmer when they were together.
She also spoke about their age gap
The two had a 13-year age gap between them, which Cher spoke about in a 2021 interview with People where she said, “We became friends because we laughed at the same things constantly. He would sleep over and it was just a friendship [at first].”
“The truth was if I hadn’t gone out with younger men, I would have never had a date. Younger men weren’t intimidated by older women.”
Cher also shared that she had a special connection with Kilmer adding, “And he was so beautiful. It went from madly in love and laughing hysterically to respecting each other’s ability.”
