Val Kilmer Was a Dad to 2 Kids: Inside the Late ‘Top Gun’ Actor’s Family With Ex Joanne Whalley

He was in such notable films like Top Gun, Tombstone and The Saint, but aside from being an actor, Val Kilmer was all about being a father. The late actor opened up about his family life on numerous occasions before his death.

Val Kilmer Had 2 Kids With Joanne Whalley

The Batman Forever star tied the knot with fellow actress Joanne Whalley in 1988. While the pair parted ways in 1996, they did end up having two kids — daughter Mercedes and son Jack. After his divorce, Val did not end up getting married again, but he had been quite close to his children, especially while he battled throat cancer. In fact, the star’s journey with the disease made him realized that he had been far too uptight in his career.

“I was too serious,” Val once told The Hollywood Reporter. “I’d get upset when things like Oscars and recognition failed to come my way. … I would like to have more Oscars than anybody. Meryl Streep must feel pretty good, you know? It must feel nice to know that everyone loves her. It’s about being loved.” Although, Val did go on to get quite honest about living under the spotlight.

“Fame is sort of a mess,” he revealed to the outlet. “You get treated differently, but it doesn’t have anything to do with who you actually are.”

On April 1, 2025, Mercedes confirmed her father’s death at age 65 to The New York Times. She told the outlet that the cause was pneumonia.

Mercedes Kilmer

In 1991, Val and Joanne welcomed their first child, Mercedes. Her folks’ talent was clearly passed down to her, as she has appeared in numerous short films like There Is No Gravity and Prettyface. She has also been a part of a blues band and has played in various venues. In 2020, she made her feature film debut in Paydirt, alongside her dad.

“The producer called me up and asked me if I would play this role and I said, ‘I don’t know if you’ve found anybody yet to play my daughter, but I might have someone for you. Her name is Mercedes Kilmer and perhaps you’d be interested in meeting with her,'” Val told People. “Mercedes and the producer met, and they all had a ball.”

Mercedes opened up about working with her dad amid his cancer battle.

“It’s obvious my dad’s speech is compromised and so this whole experience revealed the personal effort I had put into working with actors with a disability, which I hadn’t done before,” she said.

“It revealed how much I had to gain from working with people who have different abilities,” Mercedes added. “My dad’s able to very artfully circumvent the limitations of his speech, so I learned so much watching him, how he communicated physically. It taught me so much about acting that expanded what I thought acting was, which was central to speech.”

Jack Kilmer

Val and Joanne’s second child, Jack, was born in 1995 — and he has taken the same acting route that his parents did. Jack has been in various notable films including, The Nice Guys with Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe, Lords of Chaos and The Stanford Experiment. He also has various projects in the works. Aside from acting, Val is a musician and a model, and enjoys skateboarding.