Val Kilmer sets the record straight after his friend Michael Douglas said he had cancer
The actor says he has "no cancer whatsoever"
VAL Kilmer has responded to pal Michael Douglas’ claims he has cancer, saying it’s NOT true.
At the weekend the actor’s health was thrown into the spotlight when Michael said “things don’t look good for him (val)”.
But now Val, 56, has set the record straight, saying he had approached his actor friend for a recommendation regarding a lump in his throat, but that he is cancer-free.
Taking to Facebook he wrote: “I love Michael Douglas but he is misinformed.
“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, which prevented me from continuing a tour of my play CITIZEN TWAIN.
“I ended up using a team at UCLA and have no cancer whatsoever. I still have a swollen tongue and am rehabbing steadily.
“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.”
“Nothing could be further from the truth. Although I am very grateful for all the support from around the world, when people found out I had a physical challenge.”
He continued: “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.”
The 72-year-old actor revealed the Batman Forever star has been secretly suffering with the same disease he was diagnosed with six years ago.
He revealed the news during a Q&A with Jonathan Ross at An Evening with Michael Douglas at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane at the weekend, where he talked about shooting The Ghost in the Darkness with Val in 1996.
He said: “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.
“My prayers are with him. That’s why you haven’t heard too much from Val lately.”
Val denied having cancer last year after being hospitalised in January 2015 for bleeding from the throat.
In June last year he wrote on his Facebook page: “I am perfectly well folks. Thank you for all your love and support. I am having a grand time. And I should mention I do not have cancer or a tumor.(sic)”
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Four months later Val once again denied he was unwell, but was later seen with a tracheostomy tube in his neck.
Michael originally announced he was battling throat cancer in 2010 and later underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatment, being given the all-clear the following year.
In 2013, Michael revealed he had actually suffered from tongue cancer, but had been told by a physician it was unwise to clarify he had cancer of the tongue due to the potential for disfigurement.
On his own battle, he said this evening: “I had to deal with chemo, radiation, which is a seven week period, and a bunch of weeks either side.
“My kids were pretty good about it. I was really honest about it and you just progressively as you take the chemo and radiation, you get weaker and not moving around.
“I had a very nice couch in my den, which I lived on. You know, there’s not a lot of choices really.
That’s what you go through. They were wonderfully supportive, Catherine (Zeta-Jones) was too.
“There was a period where they were taking about if it doesn’t work in my particular situation with the throat, that they have to do surgery you’re probably not going to have much of a film career with that.
“It’s all going through your mind but I went with it and stuck with the attitude, let’s just do this whole thing and we’ll deal with it afterwards.
“They’ll test me afterwards and we’ll see if it’s successful. If we are great, if not we’ll have to look at what the alternatives are.”
His first film after being given the all-clear was 2013’s Behind the Candelabra, in which he played US megastar Liberace.
He recalled: “Six months after, they sent me this script. It was spectacular. This wonderful script.
“They said, ‘Matt Damon wants you to play the other part.’ I said, ‘Wow.’ So I was so excited. I said, ‘Yeah, absolutely.’
“We started warming up and the the director Stephen (Soderbergh) said, you know, ‘I’ve got a scheduling conflict so I really can’t do it now. And Matt does too, so we’re going to have to put this off for a while until next year.’
“My heart sunk. I thought, this is never going to happen again.
"The truth was, me, I'm just happy to be alive. Forget the fact I look like I just came out of a concentration camp. They're both looking at each other saying he doesn't look too good. So they made an excuse - they did that to save me.
"I wasn't ready and they were right. I wasn't. But as a result of that, having an additional year, to practice the piano and work on the accent. It made it that much better. I'm really grateful to them."
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