Val Kilmer’s Cause Of Death Confirmed As Pneumonia After Long Health Battle

Hollywood has officially said goodbye to one of its most unforgettable stars. Over a week after Val Kilmer passed away at the age of 65, the cause of his death has now been confirmed.

According to his death certificate, reviewed by PEOPLE, Val died from pneumonia. Underlying causes also listed include acute hypoxemic respiratory failure, chronic respiratory failure, and squamous cell carcinoma of the base of his tongue. His body was cremated on April 7.

Though the news is heartbreaking, it comes as no surprise to his daughter, Mercedes. She had already shared with The New York Times that her father died of pneumonia and opened up about his cancer journey — one that began over a decade ago in 2014 when he was diagnosed with throat cancer.

Val’s health struggles were something he eventually chose to speak about publicly, though he was notoriously private in the early days of his illness. In a 2017 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he shared how the disease had already taken a toll on him after two years of fighting it.

At the time, fans and the media were full of speculation about his condition, which Val later addressed in his 2020 memoir I’m Your Huckleberry. He wrote candidly, “Reports emerged that I was in denial. Well, denial is a funny thing. I was not denying that I had had cancer but was simply saying I no longer did.” Still, he admitted, “It was surreal. I didn’t believe I was decomposing, and I wasn’t ready to die.”

His memoir pulled back the curtain on how long he had ignored some of the signs — a lump in his throat, the difficulty swallowing, and eventually the loss of his voice — which forced him to cancel his one-man show in 2014. He delayed seeking treatment until a terrifying night when he woke up vomiting blood, describing the scene as something “out of The Godfather.” That night, he called 911 — and began the fight of his life.

After his diagnosis, Val went through chemotherapy, radiation, and eventually a tracheotomy. It was a rough road, but by 2020, he proudly shared that he had been cancer-free for over four years. And by his 2021 PEOPLE cover story, that remained true.

His children remained by his side every step of the way. His son Jack once told PEOPLE, “There are things we do every day to soothe the vocal cords and to repair them, but they’re very damaged. He doesn’t seem to be in pain when he speaks. Sometimes you can’t shut him up.”