Val Kilmer’s daughter Mercedes honors late actor on his birthday
Val Kilmer‘s daughter, Mercedesshared a heartfelt tribute to the late actor just months after his death.
“My father would have been 66 today, born on the last day of the 1950s❤️,” she wrote via Instagram on Wednesday, Dec. 31, sharing a slideshow of family photos. “I am so grateful to all my friends for helping me get through 2025.”
The post featured several photos of Kilmer through the years, from his childhood to his Hollywood career. In one photo, Kilmer was seen with Mercedes, now 34, and her brother, Jacnow 30.
Kilmer shared his two children with ex-wife Joanne Walleyto 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.
In April 2025, news broke that Kilmer died of pneumonia at the age of 65. He was previously diagnosed with throat cancer and was shown using a breathing tube in the 2021 documentary. Fall.
As tributes poured in for the late Top pistol 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 special father,” their message read. “We are so proud of him and honored that his legacy is being celebrated. At this time, we would like to grieve privately.”
Several years before Kilmer’s death, Mercedes opened up about their close bond in an interview People.
“My dad is such a smart and creative person who I enjoy hanging out with, even though he wasn’t also my dad,” 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 so talented and he is able to artfully work around the limitations of his speech,” Mercedes continued. “I learned so much from watching him, like how he physically communicated. It expanded what I thought acting was.”
The late Val Kilmer had an illustrious acting career during his lifetime, with roles ranging from Batman in Batman Forever to the late Jim Morrison in the biopic The Doors. “Fame wasn’t my priority, and I had it,” Kilmer told The New York Times in May 2020, despite his long list of film credits. “I gambled on the possibility of being able to do that […]
Kilmer returned the praise to his then ‘brilliant’ children as he gushed over Mercedes and Jack.
“I’m just wildly, wildly entertained by them,” he told the outlet. “My only gripe is that I never see enough of them, so I never get enough of the wild entertainment that everyone else gets, but they are really quite entertaining.”
Kilmer himself has 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 pistol universe as Iceman in Top Gun: Maverick.
“It means a lot to my father because he is very proud of that film. This is what he likes to do,” Mercedes told the newspaper. New York Post as she reflected on her father’s “extraordinary” reunion with the Top pistol crew. “It was trippy and very 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 glimpses of memories with her father over the years. In November 2025, she posted a black and white photo of Kilmer holding her as a baby, captioned with a simple red heart emoji.
