Val Kilmer’s cause of death revealed one week after ‘Top Gun’ star’s passing
Val Kilmer’s cause of death has been revealed.
The beloved actor, who passed away April 1 at 65, died from pneumonia.
A death certificate issued by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and obtained by TMZ cited pneumonia as the immediate cause, with other underlying medical conditions contributing to his passing.
The “Top Gun” star was living with squamous cell carcinoma at the base of his tongue and suffered from hypoxemic respiratory failure and chronic respiratory failure, according to the document.
Acute hypoxemic respiratory failure is “a condition where you don’t have enough oxygen in the tissues in your body (hypoxia) or when you have too much carbon dioxide in your blood (hypercapnia),” according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Additional factors noted on the death certificate include malnutrition and a tracheocutaneous fistula.
Kilmer was cremated April 7, the document said.
The official ruling on the “Tombstone” star’s cause of death corroborated a previous statement made by his daughter, Mercedes Kilmer. The actress, 33, shared with the New York Times that her father passed away from pneumonia April 1 in LA.
Known for iconic roles in “The Doors,” “Batman Forever” and “Heat,” Kilmer’s health declined significantly after he was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2015, but in 2021, he declared he was cancer-free.
The cancer treatments took a toll on Kilmer’s body, however. In addition to undergoing radiotherapy and chemotherapy, he had two tracheotomies to create an artificial hole in his neck to help him breathe. The surgeries permanently damaged his vocal cords and left him barely able to speak.
“I can’t speak without plugging this hole,” he said in his 2021 documentary “Val,” produced by Mercedes and his son, Jack Kilmer, 29. “You have to make the choice to breathe or to eat,” Kilmer added, referring to a feeding tube.
“It’s an obstacle that is very present with whoever sees me. I’m still recovering, and it is difficult to talk and to be understood. But I want to tell my story more than ever.”
In his final film performance, reprising his role as Iceman in 2022’s “Top Gun: Maverick,” AI technology was used to revive his voice.
Kilmer was also bed-bound “for years before his death,” sources close to Kilmer’s family told TMZ.
The actor’s body “simply couldn’t keep fighting at the end,” they said, adding, “his body eventually shut down.”
He was “very frail at the end of his life” and his death was not sudden, the family sources also shared.
The star was reportedly hospitalized earlier this year and, in the week before his death, was admitted to a Los Angeles area hospital, where friends and family were able to visit him.
