Cher pays tribute to ex Val Kilmer following his death
Cher is mourning the death of Val Kilmer.
The “Moonstruck” star paid tribute on social media to the actor, whom she dated in the 1980s. Kilmer died from pneumonia at the age of 65 on April 1, his daughter told The Associated Press. He had previously undergone treatment for throat cancer.
“VALUS Will miss u,U Were Funny,crazy,pain in the ass,GREAT FRIEND,kids(heart)U, BRILLIANT as Mark Twain, BRAVE here during ur sickness,” the Oscar winner wrote April 2 on X, alluding to his stage role as Mark Twain and her nickname for him, Valus Maximus.
“We called ourselves Sid and Ethel. Val didn’t want to yell ‘Cher’ and I didn’t want to yell ‘Val,’” she told People in 2021. “We also called ourselves Valus Maximus and Cherus Reprimandus. It was just kind of who I was in the household. Of course he was Maximus, come on.”
A charismatic leading man on the big screen in the 1980s and ’90s who starred in such memorable films as “Top Gun,” “Heat,” “Batman Forever” and “Tombstone,” Kilmer’s romance with Cher was a surprise, given their 13-year age gap.
“He was so young. Was he 22? What was I? I don’t know. Thirty-something. It was a bigger deal back then,” she told People.
Cher has also admitted how she was crushed when Kilmer broke it off.
“I was madly in love with Val Kilmer, and he left,” she told Howard Stern in 2024.
“Sometimes, you’re only meant to stay with someone so long, and Val was, like — he was really young,” she added.
Cher has also said the two learned to appreciate each other during their time together.
“Our sense of humor, and what we would put up with from one another, was more than I think I’ve ever had with any other guy,” she told People. “He would just go off and do his own thing and you just had to be prepared. And he was so beautiful. It went from madly in love and laughing hysterically to respecting each other’s ability.”
Cher also told People that Kilmer “is so creative like nobody I’ve ever known,” adding she had tried to make peace with him after seeing his documentary “Val,” which chronicles his career and health issues.
“I loved him — and I love him,” she said. “I (just wrote to him), I said, ‘Valus Maximus, I’m sorry if I did anything to piss you off or hurt your feelings. I love you and your documentary was all things … I love the things that pissed me off, the things that made me hysterical, amazed, hurt, astonished, etc. You are brave and beyond brilliant. Ethel.’”
