Why Did Actor Val Kilmer Step Away From Acting Before His Death?
Bursting onto the scene in the 1980s, Val Kilmer became a Hollywood heartthrob who also possessed considerable acting chops.
Published April 3 2025, 1:35 p.m. ET
As Hollywood continues to mourn the untimely death of famed actor Val Kilmer, many fans want to know more about his personal life after retreating from the spotlight and stepping away from acting.
Bursting onto the scene in the 1980s, Val became a Hollywood heartthrob who also possessed considerable acting chops. He starred in some of the biggest movies of the '80s and '90s while boasting a resume working alongside various acting legends.
Why did Val Kilmer stop acting?
Long before his throat cancer diagnosis limited his acting roles, severely impaired his speech, and caused him to rely on the use of an electronic throat box following surgery on his trachea, Val retreated from the Hollywood spotlight and only occasionally appeared in films — a far cry from his A-lister heyday.
While speaking about his career in a 2012 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he noted that being a full-time dad to his children while they were young took priority over movie roles.
“I guess I’d call my children a cause, definitely a full-time job, and now that they’re older, I just realized that I was very lucky and I was privately very grateful,” he told the outlet. “But I wasn’t very practical in thinking about Hollywood and our business. It’s a very social business, and I never tried to be involved in the community of it.”
When was Val diagnosed with throat cancer?
Multiple reports began swirling in 2015 that Val was battling cancer, a rumor he repeatedly shut down for years before confirming in 2017 that he had been healed from the disease.
In April 2017, while responding to a fan on Reddit who asked him why actor Michael Douglas previously said Val had terminal cancer, the actor officially confirmed the rumors. “He was probably trying to help me 'cause press probably asked where I was these days, and I did have a healing of cancer,” Val wrote at the time, per Variety.
“But my tongue is still swollen altho [sic] healing all the time. Because I don’t sound my normal self yet people think I may still be under the weather.”
What was Val’s last movie role?
Speculation and rumors heavily persisted for years that Val would return for the Top Gun sequel, Top Gun: Maverick, to reprise his legendary role as Tom "Iceman" Kazansky — and fans finally got their wish when Val appeared in the film in an especially moving scene with actor Tom Cruise.
While promoting the film on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2023, Tom opened up about his relationship with Val and their onscreen reunion. “I just want to say that was pretty emotional. I’ve known Val for decades,” he said.
“For him to come back and play that character … He’s such a powerful actor that he instantly became that character again. You’re looking at Iceman. I was crying, I was crying. I got emotional. He’s such a brilliant actor, I love his work,” Tom added.