Actor Val Kilmer has confirmed that he battled cancer after previously denying it.
Kilmer took to Reddit for an “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) thread last week to promote his touring film “Cinema Twain,” where users could ask him questions. One recalled a story last year when Michael Douglas claimed the actor had terminal cancer.
“A while ago, Michael Douglas claimed you had terminal cancer. What was the story behind that?” they asked.
“He was probably trying to help me cause press probably asked where I was these days, and I did have a healing of cancer, but my tongue is still swollen altho healing all the time,” Kilmer responded. “Because I don’t sound my normal self yet people think I may still be under the weather.”
Another user responded in shock: “So wait….did I miss something, or is this the first admission from you that you were battling cancer?”
Rumors about Kilmer’s declining health have been circulating for years, with photos appearing in the press that showed what looked like the “Top Gun” actor sporting a tracheostomy tube.
The claims resurfaced in 2016 after Douglas, who worked with Kilmer on 1996’s “The Ghost and the Darkness,” said the actor had approached him for health advice.
“Val was a wonderful guy who is dealing with exactly what I had, and things don’t look too good for him,” Douglas said in a Q&A. “My prayers are with him. That’s why you haven’t heard too much from Val lately.”
Douglas previously suffered from tongue cancer, although he said he’s now cancer free.
Kilmer, however, denied the claims, taking to Facebook to say his former costar was “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,” he wrote. “I ended up using a team at UCLA and have no cancer whatsoever.”
TheWrap has reached out to Kilmer’s reps for comment.