His voice has delivered some of the most iconic lines in Hollywood. Yet, Val Kilmer revealed he was almost silenced forever due to throat cancer, a disease that has transformed his voice completely.
“I feel a lot better than I sound, but I feel wonderful,” Val Kilmer, 60, told Chris Connelly during an interview on the Apr. 21 episode of Good Morning America. The voice coming out of the Tombstone star was not the silky one that delivered the movie’s now-famous line (“I’m your huckleberry”), but any sound coming out of Val’s mouth is a good one. The Hollywood Icon revealed that he was “diagnosed with throat cancer, which healed very quickly.” Because the glands in his throat also swelled up, he had to undergo a tracheostomy that allows him to breathe. The result is a Val that sounds nothing like how he did before. Despite this, he still has retained a sense of humor. When asked about what he missed most of his old voice, he said, “that I had one! And that I didn’t laugh like a pirate.”
Val appeared on GMA to talk about his new memoir, I’m Your Huckleberry. In the new book, he gets candid about his many high-profile romances and his career in Hollywood. Val portrayed the iconic rocker Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s 1991 biopic, The Doors, and did his own singing throughout the movie. “My life was not built for that kind of fame and attention, and all of the sudden interest in Jim Morrison was about sex, drugs and rock and roll. I’m very shy. I’ve tried to live a quiet life out in New Mexico despite all my famous girlfriends of the past.
Speaking of which, Val opens up about these “famous girlfriends” in his new memoir. The Top Gun star has been involved with such starlets like like Cher, Ellen Barkin, Michelle Pfieffer, and Cindy Crawford. When reflecting on what made him so “appealing” to such charismatic women, Val credited his loyalty.
“I’m committed. You have to be committed with a woman that’s as dynamic and as committed to their work as someone like Cindy Crawford, who was the number one model on the planet at the time.”
Actor Val Kilmer opens up about his battle with cancer and past relationships in new memoir. @ChrisConnelly has the story. https://t.co/8jVW3sLFzp pic.twitter.com/PzmE12EWFo
— Good Morning America (@GMA) April 21, 2020
Val also addresses his relationship with the actress (and Willow co-star) Joanne Whalley. She and Val were married from 1988 to 1996, and they have two children together: daughter Mercedes, 28, and son Jack, 24, who has gone on to act in movies like Lords of Chaos and The Nice Guys.
Sourse: hollywoodlife.com
