Just days after the heartbreaking news of Val Kilmer\u2019s passing at age 65, his children, Mercedes and Jack, are speaking out with love, pride, and a plea for privacy.<\/p>\n
The Top Gun<\/em> and Batman Forever<\/em> legend passed away due to pneumonia, after years of health struggles, including a battle with throat cancer that ultimately left him without his natural voice. Kilmer, known for his iconic roles and off-screen resilience, shared his two children with ex-wife and fellow actor Joanne Whalley.<\/p>\n In a joint statement released to People Magazine<\/em>, Mercedes and Jack shared how deeply touched they are by the public outpouring of love and admiration for their father. \u201cWe are proud of our dad,\u201d they said, expressing gratitude for how his legacy has been honored in recent days. The siblings also gently asked for time and space to grieve privately as they begin to navigate life without him.<\/p>\n Mercedes had the difficult task of confirming her father\u2019s death earlier this week, and was later seen leaning on her mother for comfort\u2014an image that captured the weight of the moment for the family.<\/p>\n The father-daughter duo shared a special connection beyond real life\u2014they acted together in the 2020 crime drama Paydirt<\/em>, where Mercedes played Kilmer\u2019s on-screen daughter. In a past interview with Good Morning America<\/em>, she spoke of how meaningful it was to share that experience, especially knowing what her dad had endured.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m so proud to have been in this film and to have worked on it\u2014not just because my dad is my dad,\u201d she said, \u201cbut because I know people don\u2019t always lead with this, but he had lost his voice, and it really meant something to me to be part of a movie that centered a performer who was disabled.\u201d<\/p>\n Behind the scenes, Mercedes and Jack are now handling arrangements for their father\u2019s funeral, working through grief while honoring his wishes and memory.<\/p>\n Val Kilmer was hospitalized earlier this year, according to TMZ<\/em>, and despite his health challenges over the last several years, he remained creatively active and deeply loved. His strength and vulnerability made him all the more legendary.<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Just days after the heartbreaking news of Val Kilmer\u2019s passing at age 65, his children, Mercedes and Jack, are speaking\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":294,"featured_media":67588,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[24973],"class_list":["post-67587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrity-news","tag-val-kilmer"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/294"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67587\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}