Val Kilmer’s kids describe watching their father battle throat cancer in ‘Val’: ‘It’s incredibly difficult’
Source: www.yahoo.com Author: Ethan Alter·Senior Writer, Yahoo Entertainment It's not easy for any child to watch their parent battle a serious illness. But it can be an even bigger challenge when that parent is also a public figure with an innately curious fanbase. That's the situation that Jack and Mercedes Kilmer have lived with for the past few years as their father — Top Gun star Val Kilmer — has waged a public and private battle with throat cancer. Kilmer's health struggles, which have affected his ability to speak, are put on full view in the highly personal new documentary Val, premiering on Aug. 6 on Prime Video. His adult children associate produced and appear extensively in the film, which includes footage of the actor at some of the lowest moments in his illness. "It's incredibly difficult," Mercedes Kilmer tells Yahoo Entertainment about watching her father in those moments. "Especially for him because his work is his voice. [Because of] his training as an actor... he has such a natural faculty for speech, and I don't think he honestly would have survived... were it not for his dedication to developing that muscle of his voice." Since Kilmer now speaks with the aid of a voice box following his recent tracheotomy, Jack Kilmer acts as his father's voice in Val. The younger Kilmer narrates his dad's life story as it plays out via home movies shot by Kilmer on his various movie sets, alongside new footage filmed by directors Leo Scott [...]