After repeated denials, Val Kilmer admits cancer battle

Val Kilmer.

Batman actor Val Kilmer has finally admitted that he is suffering from cancer.

The 57-year-old American actor has long refuted talk that he is afflicted with oral cancer.

According to the Toronto Sun newspaper, he was said to have checked into a medical centre in Los Angeles in January 2015 to have a suspected tumour in his throat removed.

Last year, he again did not come clean after his The Ghost And The Darkness (1996) co-star Michael Douglas suggested that Kilmer had tongue cancer. In a Facebook post, Kilmer claimed that Douglas was "misinformed" and that he had "no cancer whatsoever".

The truth is now out. In a question-and-answer session with fans last week on the Reddit website, Kilmer said he was "healing of cancer", People magazine reported.

A fan asked: "A while ago, Michael Douglas claimed you had terminal cancer. What was the story behind that?"

Kilmer, who has acted in movies such as Batman Forever (1995) and Top Gun (1986), replied: "He was probably trying to help me cause press probably asked where I was these days, and I did have a healing of cancer, but my tongue is still swollen altho healing all the time.

"Because I don't sound my normal self yet people think I may still be under the weather."

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on May 02, 2017, with the headline After repeated denials, Val Kilmer admits cancer battle. Subscribe