Val Kilmer‘s daughter Mercedes and his ex-wife Joanne Whalley were pictured for the first time since the actor’s tragic death at 65.
Mercedes, 33, and her mom, 63, were seen sharing a tender hug outside a home in West Hollywood, just a day after she confirmed that her father passed away from pneumonia on Tuesday.
Kilmer’s daughter was pictured in a black sweatshirt, Ugg boots and sunglasses as she carried two large tote bags on her shoulder while moving items into her car.
Joanne wore a long red cardigan over a black top and pants and was pictured embracing her daughter in a moment of shared grief.
Aside from Mercedes, the cinema icon – famed for iconic roles in Top Gun, Batman and The Doors – is also survived by son Jack Kilmer, 29.
Kilmer — who was ‘very frail’ near the end of his life, a decade after battling throat cancer — was married to British actress Joanne from 1988 until 1996. They met while starring in director Ron Howard’s 1988 fantasy Willow.
Val Kilmer’s daughter Mercedes, 33, and his ex-wife Joanne Whalley, 63, were pictured for the first time since the actor’s tragic death at 65
Joanne was pictured embracing her daughter in a moment of shared grief outside a home in West Hollywood on Wednesday
It came just a day after Mercedes confirmed that her father passed away from pneumonia on Tuesday
Kilmer – famed for iconic roles in Top Gun, Batman and The Doors – died at the age of 65, a decade after battling throat cancer; pictured 2019
His family and friends were said be at his side in the hospital in the days before his death and it was claimed he had been hospitalized previously earlier this year.
The actor was reportedly ‘bed bound’ for years as his health failed before his shock death this week.
Family sources told TMZ Kilmer had a ‘lack of energy related to his cancer treatment’ confining him to his bed and ‘while he was cancer free’ at the time of his death his body ‘couldn’t keep fighting and shut down.’
Val maintained a close relationship with his two children ahead of his shock death.
Read More
Despite his intense 11-year battle with throat cancer that left him using voice box and demanding career, the late A-lister always found ways to prioritize spending time with his kids.
This included taking his daughter Mercedes to his last public appearance as his plus one to the annual Thespians Go Hollywood Gala at Avalon Hollywood in 2019.
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 struggles, Mercedes tried to remain optimistic.
Joanne wore a long red cardigan over a black top and pants
Mercedes was pictured packing items into her car
Val maintained a close relationship with his two children ahead of his shock death
Mercedes carried a large green coat in her hand
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
‘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.
Val took his daughter to his last public appearance at the annual Thespians Go Hollywood Gala at Avalon Hollywood in 2019 (pictured)
Aside from Mercedes, the cinema icon is also survived by son Jack Kilmer, 29; Mercedes and Jack seen in 2021
Kilmer was married to fellow actress Joanne from 1988 until 1996; they are pictured in 1990
The two met while starring in Ron Howard’s fantasy Willow (1988); seen in a still
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.’
Kilmer 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 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.
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.
He rocketed to stardom as Tom Cruise’s co-star in the smash 1986 hit Top Gun (1986), playing naval aviator Tom ‘Iceman’ Kazansky
The Los Angeles native also famously played musician Jim Morrison in the 1991 film The Doors.
In the 1993 Western Tombstone, he played Old West gunfighter Doc Holliday.
He had two commercial successes in 1995, co-starring with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in the crime drama Heat and succeeding Michael Keaton as the Caped Crusader in Batman Forever, the third installment in the Batman series.
Despite his acclaimed career, Kilmer never received an Oscar or Emmy nomination, with his closest brush with a major award being a 2012 Grammy nomination for Best Spoken Word Album for The Mask of Zorro.
In 2020, Kilmer revealed he had been single since the year 2000 in his memoir, I’m Your Huckleberry.
‘I haven’t had a girlfriend in 20 years. The truth is I am lonely part of every day,’ he wrote.
