- Val Kilmer dated a string of A-list stars
- He married in 1988 and had two children
- There’s one women he loves “with my whole heart forever”
Val Kilmer, the late actor renowned for his iconic roles in Top Gun, Heat, and Batman Forever, led a life as captivating off-screen as he did on.
Known as a Hollywood heartthrob in the ’80s, Kilmer was no stranger to high-profile romances. The star enjoyed a string of A-list girlfriends from the world of entertainment.
Read more: Val Kilmer: Stars pay tribute to the late actor
In his 2020 memoir, I’m Your Huckleberry: A Memoir, Kilmer admitted “I’ve always found women infinitely more interesting than men. Perhaps that’s why we’ve always gotten along. We are big oafy elephants…and they are butterflies.”
Read more: Val Kilmer: Fans pay tribute to hidden iconic role
His only marriage was to British actress Joanne Whalley. The couple met in 1987 while working on the Ron Howard film Willow, where they starred together. Their chemistry on-screen translated into a romance, and they married in 1988. During their relationship, they would star in two more films together.
Kilmer and Whalley had two children together, a daughter, Mercedes, born in 1991, and a son, Jack, born in 1995. However, after eight years of marriage, the couple divorced in 1996. Joanne cited “irreconcilable differences” as the cause for their split.
Despite them separating, Kilmer spoke fondly of Whalley, acknowledging her as the mother of his children and a significant part of his life. They even starred together in a further two films, including Francis Ford Coppola’s Twixt in 2011.
Val Kilmer’s early romance with Cher
Before meeting his wife, Kilmer dated Cher in the early ‘80s after the pair met during Cher’s 36th birthday party. He was 21 years old at the time. Cher, who has dated some of the most famous names in Hollywood, including Tom Cruise, Warren Beatty and Gene Simmons, recalled on The Howard Stern Show that Kilmer was the only ex of hers who had broken up with her.
Stern was left baffled asking “Why would he leave? He’s having fabulous sex with one of the most beautiful women in the world, what the ****’s the problem with this guy?”
But Cher admitted that their age gap had come into play, admitting Val was “really young”.
On the dating scene
Following his divorce from Whalley, Kilmer dated Cindy Crawford for two years, a relationship he credited with helping him find happiness again. Speaking to Good Morning America in 2020 to promote his memoir, he described her after their breakup: “You have to be committed to a woman who’s as dynamic and dedicated to her work as someone like Cindy Crawford, who was the number one model on the planet at the time.”
Michelle Pfeiffer met Kilmer in the 1980s on the set of an ABC Afterschool Special, One Too Many, and they quickly became friends. Pfeiffer, like Kilmer, was going through marriage struggles and the pair confided in one another. Kilmer wrote in his book, “the secret pain that Michelle and I shared created an intimacy between us”. The pair were thought to have dated following this, though Kilmer admitted he had an “all consuming crush’ on her younger sister.
Kilmer also had a brief romance with Emmy-winning actress Ellen Barkin, who was six years his senior. In his memoir, he gushed over the softness of her hair, writing “Her hair. Who remembers the softness of a woman’s hair? If you ever have a chance to consensually ever so gently touch Ellen’s hair, it will be worth the look she’s gonna drop on you.”
He met singer songwriter Carly Simon during a party at the New York premiere of Top Gun in 1986. Simon invited him back to her home, where he writes in his memoir he had the “best breakfast of all time”. Kilmer added “’I wanted to be with Carly every day of the rest of my life…. She had utter power over me… Our friendship flowered. But the pair soon drifted apart.
Producer Jaycee Gossett was also one of Kilmer’s girlfriends between 1988 – 2000. Gossett has now moved away from the world of movie-making to work in health and fitness.
He also was in a relationship with Angelina Jolie, with whom he first crossed paths with on the set of their film Alexander (2004). He described Jolie as “perhaps the most soulful and serious of them all.”
“When people ask what she’s like, I say she’s like other women and other superstars, just MORE,” he added. However, their relationship faded and shortly after Jolie would meet Brad Pitt.
Val Kilmer says Darryl Hannah has his “whole heart forever”
Cupid struck on-set once again for Kilmer, when he starred alongside Darryl Hannah in In God We Trust, in 2001. The actor fell in love with the Splash star and it was clearly a very special relationship for him.
“Lord knows I’ve suffered heartache,” he penned in his memoir. “But Daryl was by far the most painful of all. I knew I would love her with my whole heart forever and that love has lost none of its strength.
“I am still in love with Daryl,” he admitted. “When we finally broke up, I cried every single day for half a year.”
Hannah is now married to legendary rocker Neil Young, who she wed in 2018 after four years of dating.
For Kilmer, it seems that despite dating Jolie, he was never able to move on from his relationship with Hannah. He opened up about his solitary love life, confessing, “I haven’t had a girlfriend in 20 years. The truth is I am lonely part of every day.”
