Val Kilmer has denied claims by Michael Douglas that he has cancer after the latter said “things don’t look too good for him”.
Douglas, who acted with Kilmer in 1996 film The Ghost and the Darkness, was discussing the film at a Q&A in London on Sunday. According to People, he told host Jonathan Ross: “The picture didn’t turn out as well as I hoped, but I had a wonderful time. Val was a wonderful guy who is dealing with exactly what I had, and things don’t look too good for him.”
Douglas was diagnosed with tongue cancer in 2010, although it was initially reported as throat cancer. “My prayers are with him. That’s why you haven’t heard too much from Val lately,” Douglas added.
But on Tuesday night Kilmer posted on Facebook denying that he was ill. “I love Michael Douglas but he is misinformed,” Kilmer wrote. “The last time I spoke to him was almost two years ago, when I asked him for a referral for a specialist to get a diagnosis for a lump in my throat.
“I ended up using a team at UCLA and have no cancer whatsoever. I still have a swollen tongue and am rehabbing steadily … come see me live and happy and in person in Westwood next week if you think I’m fibbing!”
Kilmer is a follower of Christian Science, whose adherents often reject conventional medicine in the belief that prayer will heal them. He addressed fans’ concerns that he was not taking care of his health in the post. “Some fans have mistakenly thought my silence about my personal issues meant that somehow I wasn’t being responsible to my health, because of my reliance on prayer and love,” he said. “Nothing could be further from the truth. I hope this puts to rest any further concerns about my health by publications that have no respect for the truth.
“Whatever led Michael Douglas to speculate about my health, he’s a loving and devoted friend to a privileged group of talented people around the world, and I’m sure he meant no harm.”
Fears for Kilmer’s health had first been raised in 2015, when he spent time in hospital and was later seen wearing a tracheostomy tube, although he repeatedly denied he had a tumour or cancer.
