Hollywood star Val Kilmer was reportedly bed-bound in the years leading up to his death this week.
The Top Gun star died from pneumonia aged 65 on Tuesday, his daughter Mercedes announced.
Now it’s been reported that Kilmer ‘couldn’t keep fighting’ and was bedridden ‘for years before his death’.
Sources cited as close to the Batman Forever actor told TMZ that he suffered from ‘a lack of energy due to his cancer treatment’.
Kilmer had previously been diagnosed with throat cancer in 2015, although he was cancer-free at the time of this death.
However, the publication added that their sources revealed Kilmer was ‘very frail near the end of his life’ and that his ‘health seriously declined in the past week’.
His loved ones were able to visit him in hospital before this death, which wasn’t considered sudden.
The Kiss Kiss Bang Bang actor was previously hospitalised earlier this year, although the reason is unknown.
Following his cancer diagnosis, Kilmer underwent two tracheotomies as well as chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
He lost the ability to speak without immense difficulty, communicating through an artificial voice box.
His son Jack, 29, narrated the voiceover of his Amazon prime Video documentary Val in 2021.
The star’s final onscreen appearance, where he reprised his breakthrough role of Iceman opposite Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick in 2022, saw his character given a similar diagnosis and his voice recreated with the assistance of an AI version.
Kilmer’s final Instagram post from just weeks before his death, where he was seen interacting with David Choe and putting on a Batman mask, is understood to date from around 2021.
He hadn’t been seen in public for over five years before his death, with his final appearance coming at the Thespians Go Hollywood Gala in 2019, which he attended with Mercedes, 33.
The actor – who had worked with everyone from Marlon Brando, Francis Ford Coppola, Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro to Kurt Russell, Jim Carrey and Patricia Arquette – shared his children with ex-wife Joanne Whalley.
The pair met while filming cult classic fantasy film Willow, marrying in 1988 and divorcing in 1996.
Although prior to his marriage Kilmer had dated the likes of Cher, Cindy Crawford and Angelina Jolie, the actor was single for 20 years after his divorce.
He wrote in is memoir I’m You’re Huckleberry, released in 2020: ‘I haven’t had a girlfriend in 20 years. The truth is I am lonely part of every day.’
Cher paid tribute to her ex-boyfriend, who she dated for two years in the early 80s, calling him a ‘funny, crazy, pain in the ass’ and a ‘great friend’ as well as praising his bravery during his ill health.
Film director Michael Mann wrote in as post on Instagram: ‘While working with Val on Heat I always marvelled at the range, the brilliant variability within the powerful current of Val’s possessing and expressing character.
‘After so many years of Val battling disease and maintaining his spirit, this is tremendously sad news.’
Metro has contacted a rep for Val Kilmer for comment.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.