Actor and Cancer Survivor Val Kilmer Shares How Inspired He is by Women, ‘Especially My Daughter,’ in the Sweetest Instagram Post

RELATED: See Photos Of Stars Who Have Beaten Cancer

Kilmer’s sweet acknowledgement accompanies a video of the star hugging his daughter Mercedes, 29, who affectionately rubs her dad’s head after a long embrace while he is seated at a desk in front of a laptop.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Val Kilmer (@valkilmerofficial)

Mercedes’ mother is Kilmer’s ex, Willow actress Joanne Whalley. They share another child together, their son, Jack, 25.  Mercedes recently posted an epic throwback pic of her parents on their wedding day on her Instagram page.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Mercedes Kilmer (@mercedeskilmer)

The father and daughter worked together for the first time in the 2020 film Paydirt, which was Mercedes’ first film. Mercedes played a district attorney distracted by the health of her father (played by Kilmer, who portrays Sheriff Tucker). She said that working with her pops was a challenge and tried to imagine that they weren’t related in order to nail her lines.

“The most difficult context in which to create my father (on screen) would be with my actual father,” she said in an interview on the crime film. “But then, undeniably, our actual relationship did enrich the script.”

The budding actress saw her dad in a new light, and was struck by the importance of incorporating Kilmer’s disability into the role. “It’s so exciting to see, like maybe for the first time, a lead actor with a speech disability and to see how skillfully and creatively everyone was able to accommodate that.”

Kilmer’s speech disability is a result of his throat cancer treatment, which included a tracheostomy, which is a surgical procedure that creates an opening through the neck into the windpipe to allow access to a breathing tube.

Kilmer addressed his speech on Good Morning America last year. "I feel a lot better than I sound, but I feel wonderful," Kilmer said, explaining that his “lungs and throat swelled up as well.” He was diagnosed in 2014 but didn’t announce his health news until 2017 after his two-year battle.

In his 2020 memoir I'm Your Huckleberry, the author wrote, "I have been healed of cancer for over four years now, and there has never been any recurrence. I am so grateful.” The Top Gun actor has not given a more recent health update.

Causes of Throat Cancer

Although it is unclear what specifically caused Kilmer's throat cancer, experts say it’s important to stay educated on the risk factors.

Throat cancer can sometimes be caused by tobacco and alcohol use, and also by the human papilloma virus, or HPV, which can also be a cause of cervical cancer in women. However, this sexually transmitted infection can also affect men, and the virus has been proven to cause throat cancer.

Dr. Jessica Geiger of the Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center tells SurvivorNet that both men and women can get cancer from HPV.  "The strains of HPV that cause cervical cancer are the same strains of HPV that cause throat cancer,” she explains. “The average patient with HPV-related throat cancer tends to be males in their 40s or 50s, who were never a smoker, or just a very light tobacco user."

Get the Facts: HPV Can Cause Cancer in Men Too

The important thing to know about HPV is that there are many different strains, and only a couple of them tend to cause cancer. “The vast majority of humans in the US, both men and woman, will eventually get infected with human papillomavirus,” Dr. Allen Ho from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center tells SurvivorNet. “Probably less than 1% of the population who get infected happen to have the cancer-causing virus that, somehow, their immune system fails to clear.”

HPV and Cancer Risk The Basics

Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.