Val Kilmer is battling cancer — and “things don’t look good for him,” says actor and former co-star Michael Douglas.
He made the revelation while discussing their 1996 film “The Ghost in the Darkness” at a Q&A in London on Sunday, according to the Sun.
“Val was a wonderful guy who is dealing with exactly what I had, and things don’t look to good for him,” said Douglas, who battled tongue cancer in 2010.
“My prayers are with him. That’s why you haven’t heard too much from Val lately.”
Report: Kilmer rushed to hospital with tumor
Rumors swirled in 2015 about Kilmer having throat cancer after he was photographed with a breathing machine and a tracheotomy tube in his neck. He later denied the claims on Facebook, saying they were “totally untrue.”
In 2010, Douglas initially told the press that he had been suffering from throat cancer, which had been caused by the human papilloma virus, or HPV.
He took this claim back three years later, though, and revealed that he had actually been battling tongue cancer — and that his physician instructed him to keep the diagnosis under wraps so he wouldn’t have to discuss the possibility of facial disfigurement.
“I had to deal with chemo, radiation, which is a seven week period, and a bunch of weeks either side,” Douglas recalled Sunday.
Over the past two years, Kilmer has been in and out of the hospital with numerous throat problems, but has vehemently denied that they are related to cancer. The former “Batman Forever” star admitted in early 2015 that he underwent a medical procedure that left him with severe “swelling,” but refused to reveal what it was for.
At the time, Kilmer’s rep released a statement saying he was undergoing tests at UCLA’s intensive care unit for a “possible tumor” — but he later claimed it was a simple “complication.”
“I have not had a tumor, or a tumor operations, or any operation,” Kilmer wrote on Facebook. “I had a complication where the best way to receive care was to stay under the watchful eye of the UCLA ICU. Friends have assisted who know my spiritual convictions and have been most sensitive and kind for the extra effort in making sure there’s minimum gossip and silly talk.”
This article originally appeared in the New York Post's Page Six.