Val Kilmerthe daughter of mercedesshared a heartfelt tribute to the late actor several months after his death.
“My dad would have been 66 today, born on the last day of the fifties ❤️,” she wrote via Instagram on Wednesday, December 31, sharing a slideshow of family photos. “So thankful to all my friends for getting me through 2025.”
The post included several photos of Kilmer over the years, from childhood to his Hollywood career. One snapshot showed Kilmer with Mercedes, now 34, and her brother, Jacknow 30
Kilmer shared his two children with his ex-wife Joanne Whalleyto whom he was married from 1988 to 1996. Mercedes’ post included a photo of her parents from when they met on the set of the 1988 film. willow.
Val Kilmer’s proudest role was that of a loving father of two. Born in Los Angeles in 1959, the actor welcomed his eldest child, daughter Mercedes, in 1991 with his then-wife Joanne Whalley. The couple separated shortly after welcoming their son, Jack, in 1995. Their divorce was finalized the following year. Kilmer’s role as (…)
In April 2025 there was news that Kilmer died of pneumonia at the age of 65 He was previously diagnosed with throat cancer and was shown wearing a breathing tube in the 2021 documentary. value.
As tributes poured in for the dead Top Gun star, his family shared a statement honoring his life and legacy.
Val Kilmer
Courtesy of Mercedes Kilmer/Instagram“Thank you for honoring the memory of our extraordinary father,” her message read. “We are very proud of him and honored to see his legacy celebrated. At this time, we would like to mourn privately.”
Several years before Kilmer’s death, Mercedes opened up about their close bond in an interview with people.
“My dad is such a smart and creative person that I love hanging out with, even if he wasn’t my dad, too,” she said in 2020.
Mercedes starred in the film alongside her father Paydirtwhich marked his return to acting after undergoing a tracheotomy that affected his voice.
“My father is very talented and is able to artfully circumvent the limitations of his speech,” continued Mercedes. “I learned a lot from watching him, how he communicated physically. He expanded what I thought acting was.”
The late Val Kilmer had an illustrious acting career throughout his life, with roles ranging from Batman in Batman Forever to the late Jim Morrison in The Doors biopic. “Fame was not my priority and I had it,” Kilmer told The New York Times in May 2020, despite his long list of film credits. “I was playing with power (…)
Kilmer returned the praise to his “brilliant” children at the time, gushing about Mercedes and Jack.
“I’m so wildly, wildly entertained by them,” she told the outlet. “My only complaint is that I never see enough of them, so I never get enough of the wild entertainment that everyone else has, but they are really, really, really entertaining.”
Kilmer himself provided plenty of entertainment for fans over the years, thanks to his iconic roles in Top Gun, Batman Forever, Heat and more In 2022, he returned to the Top Gun universe as an ice man Top Gun: Maverick.
“It means a lot to my dad because he’s very proud of this movie. It’s what he likes to do,” Mercedes told the New York Post as he reflected on his father’s “extraordinary” meeting with the Top Gun crew “It was really fun and really special for my dad to be on set with all his friends who made this movie when they were my age.”
Since his death in April 2025, Mercedes has shared memories with her father over the years. In November 2025, he published a black and white photography of Kilmer holding her as a child, captioned with a simple red heart emoji.