Val Kilmer had a strong bond with his two kids, Mercedes and Jack, whom he shared with his ex-wife, Joanne Whalley. This connection was evident even before his unexpected passing at the age of 65.

Despite his lengthy battle with throat cancer, which affected his voice and career for 11 years, the renowned actor always made sure to prioritize quality time with his children. Val Kilmer, famous for his roles in Batman Forever and Top Gun, managed to find ways to be there for his kids.

One such instance was when he attended the annual Thespians Go Hollywood Gala at Avalon Hollywood in 2019, where he brought his daughter Mercedes, 33, as his date, marking his final public appearance.

During the event, the pair, who costarred in the 2020 film Paydirt, remained close to each other as they posed for photos together on the red carpet. 

Previously, the versatile actor revealed to Vanity Fair that he turned down working with ’10 really great directors’ to put his family and marriage first.

‘I can’t be a responsible parent and only be there three or four months a year,’ he explained. 

In 2020, he told People: ‘I am just madly, wildly entertained by them. My only gripe is that I never see them enough, so I never get enough of the wild entertainment that everyone else gets, but they’re really, really, entertaining.’ 

While speaking of her father’s health health struggles, ahead of his death from pneumonia on Tuesday night, Mercedes tried to remain optimistic.  

‘We all spend so much time together,’ she told the outlet. ‘Even just getting to meet all my dad’s friends from before I was born — there are so many beautiful things that happen when you need help from people.’ 

Mercedes previously revealed to The Hollywood Reporter that she couldn’t ‘remember not being aware’ of her parents’ fame. 

‘It was about navigating how other people perceived us rather than any kind of reckoning,’ she said during the 2017 interview. 

Not long after her father was diagnosed with cancer, Mercedes recalled getting hit by a car. 

‘We were in the same hospital at the same time,’ she told the outlet. 

In 2020, she described her dad as a ‘good friend’ of hers and ‘a smart and creative person that’ she would love to hang out with, even if he wasn’t her father, to People. 

That same year, she played his daughter on-screen in the film, Paydirt, after her dad suggested she would be a good fit for the role.

‘Mercedes and the producer met, and they all had a ball,’ he told People of how they ended up on the same film. 

Mercedes explained that the experience helped her grow as an actress. 

‘It’s obvious my dad’s speech is compromised and so this whole experience revealed the personal effort I had put into working with actors with a disability, which I hadn’t done before,’ she explained. 

Mercedes continued: ‘It revealed how much I had to gain from working with people who have different abilities. My dad’s able to very artfully circumvent the limitations of his speech, so I learned so much watching him, how he communicated physically. It taught me so much about acting that expanded what I thought acting was, which was central to speech.’ 

Mercedes is also credited as an associate producer on the Prime Video documentary Val, which was released in 2021. 

During an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Mercedes confessed that the ‘entire movie’ made her emotional. 

Still, she said nothing ‘surprised’ her in the film as she said her dad is ‘an open person’ that she knew ‘very well.’

Mercedes confirmed her father passed away from pneumonia in Los Angeles to the New York Times on Tuesday. 

The screen icon was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 and underwent surgery, including a tracheotomy which significantly impacted his ability to speak. He was later declared cancer free. 

Kilmer was known for his role as Iceman in the 1986 hit movie Top Gun and as Batman/Bruce Wayne in the 1995 Batman Forever. Despite his permanently damaged voice, he made a brief return to the screen in 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick, reprising his role as Iceman opposite Tom Cruise. It was his final big screen appearance.

The Los Angeles native also famously played musician Jim Morrison in the 1991 film The Doors.

Kilmer underwent both radiotherapy and chemotherapy for his cancer as well as a tracheostomy a procedure to create an artificial hole in this neck to help him breathe.

The latter permanently damaged his vocal cords and consequentially forever altered his speaking voice.

Kilmer reported in 2020 that he had been cancer-free for four years.

In the Amazon Prime documentary entitled Val, Kilmer spoke candidly about living with the consequences of throat cancer including having to use an electric device called a voice box on the artificial hole in his throat to talk.

‘I obviously am sounding much worse than I feel. I can’t speak without plugging this hole [in his throat],’ he said.

A voice box device is most commonly a battery-operated machine that produces sound to create a voice, and is used to help those suffering with throat cancer communicate.

The actor, who also had to have meals through a feeding tube, explained some of the other challenges.

‘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.

Val’s son provided the voice-over narration of the documentary but his lines were written by Val himself.