Val Kilmer has had a successful acting career but has also been criticized for being difficult to work with. 

Kilmer’s parents divorced when he was nine, and he and his two brothers went to live with their father.   However, the divorce did have one positive outcome: 

According to The Telegraph, Val did not handle his parents’ divorce well, especially during his youth. Shortly after the separation, Val developed an interest in drama. He may have used acting to cope with the challenges in his life.

Additionally, it is mentioned that Val’s younger brother died tragically.

Val Kilmer experienced a tragedy when he was just 17 years old. His younger brother, Wesley, who had epilepsy, drowned in a swimming pool during a seizure. This left Val devastated. It was another example of loss in his young life, in addition to his parents’ divorce eight years earlier.

Val Kilmer’s marriage to actress Joanne Whalley ended bitterly.

They fell in love while working together on the 1988 action-adventure movie Willow, directed by Ron Howard. They married and had two children: a daughter, Mercedes, and a son, Jack. However, their love story was short-lived and ended badly. 

Whalley served Kilmer with divorce papers while on the set of ‘The Island Of Dr. Moreau.’ 

Val Kilmer developed a reputation as being difficult to work with.

Director John Frankenheimer was not the only one who openly disliked Kilmer.   Kilmer was known as one of the worst actors to work in the American film industry. In 1996, Entertainment Weekly published an article titled ‘Val Kilmer Makes Enemies in Hollywood,’ which stated that ‘many in Hollywood are reluctant to work with him, regardless of the potential box office success.’

Val Kilmer had relationships with many women, including his ex-wife and mother of his children, Joanne Whalley, and model Cindy Crawford.  

However, he described his most painful breakup as the end of a brief relationship with actress Daryl Hannah. Val Kilmer and Daryl Hannah became close while working on a film in 2001. They spent much time alone in private at his New Mexico property. In his book, Kilmer later wrote that Daryl had the most painful heartache ever.   The parenthetical remark about Neil Young references the fact that Hannah married the legendary singer in 2018.

Val Kilmer’s kids helped create the bittersweet documentary VAL.

Amazon Studios released the unique documentary ‘Val’ in 2021.   The documentary showcases Val Kilmer, one of Hollywood’s most versatile actors, who has been documenting his life and craft through film. Kilmer has amassed thousands of hours of footage, from home movies made with his brothers to time spent in iconic roles for blockbuster films like ‘Top Gun’ and ‘Batman.’ This raw and original documentary reveals a life lived to extremes and provides a heartfelt look at what it means to be an artist.