Just when you think certain people on this planet are immune to life’s hardships, then the next day you hear about a favorite actor or a favorite musician who has a chronic or deadly illness. That is when you realize celebrities put their pants on one leg at a time just like you do.

Famous people like Angelina Jolie who announced in 2013 she discovered she was a carrier of the BRCA1 gene. This gene dramatically increases a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer. Subsequently, Jolie had a double mastectomy.

According to the website livescience.com, George Clooney has chronic pain; Michael Phelps has ADHD; Charlie Sheen has HIV, and Tom Hanks has diabetes.

Having a chronic illness is not an anomaly in Hollywood or at the movies on a Friday night. Whether you are a celebrity or a nurse, I believe some people have a difficult time accepting their own chronic illness.

In the past few years, there have been rumors of Val Kilmer having cancer. He has snubbed the rumors at first, and now he is embracing them.

Batman is not invincible

Val Kilmer, 57, experienced a two-year battle with throat cancer, as reported by USA Today. He spoke about his battle with cancer in an interview recently with The Hollywood Reporter. However, if you rewind about a year, USA Today stated in November 2016, Kilmer denied in a Facebook post-Michael Douglas’ assertion that Kilmer had cancer.

In the most recent interview, Kilmer covered the mishap by saying Michael Douglas was just trying to help him as told to people.com. Kilmer surmised the media must have been asking where the Jim Morrison actor was, as reported by USA Today.

During The Hollywood Reporter interview, Kilmer’s speech was still affected by his bout with cancer and the subsequent treatment.

He claimed his faith in Christian Science carried him through his medical journey USA Today added. Kilmer’s treatment for throat cancer involved chemotherapy as well as a procedure on his trachea, stated people.com.

At any rate, people.com published the fight with throat cancer took its toll on Kilmer. Well, I am sure that any cancer on any part of the body would take its toll on any person, celebrity or not.

The procedure on his trachea is making his voice raspy as well as leaving him short of breath, commented people.com. The Batman actor still doesn’t sound like his normal speaking voice, says people.com.

A walk down memory lane

The "Top Gun" actor looked back at his career and the peak which occurred in 1986 detailed USA Today. His peak began that year with Top Gun and persisted through the mid-1990’s with roles such as Jim Morrison and Batman.

During that time, Kilmer grieved, “I was too serious. I’d get upset when things like Oscars and recognition failed to come to my way” indicated USA Today.

"Top Gun," "Batman," and his role as Jim Morrison were amazing! It sounds to me that actor Val Kilmer believed confirmation of his talent and approval came from a little golden statue.

That is a sad shame that he feels that way about his acting abilities. But I am sure he is not the only actor or actress who feels the same way about their self-worth. Many people who are not actors have an issue with their value, as well.

USA Today divulged Kilmer’s true feelings. "I would like to have more Oscars than anybody," he says. "Meryl Streep must feel pretty good, you know? It must feel nice to know that everyone loves her. It's about being loved."

That makes me wonder if Kilmer feels loved by his family and friends for who he is as a person, father, son, friend; not for the number of Oscars, he has sat on his mantle. You can tell the actors and actresses who have a healthy spring of self-confidence welling up from within.

They take the successes and failures in stride.

Life has funny ways of teaching us lessons

Since Kilmer won his two-year fight against throat cancer, his point of view has changed on a few things, anchoragepress.com. The awards that used to define him no longer seem to matter as much.

According to anchoragepress.com, Kilmer was asked by a fan in May about his condition. The actor responded by saying he was grateful for the prayers and nice thoughts.

Kilmer goes on to say in the Ancoragespress.com. “People that know I am a Christian Scientist make the assumption that I have somehow endangered myself. But many, many people have been healed by prayer throughout recorded history. And many, many people have died by whatever was modern medicine."

Kilmer said he had a healing of cancer as reported in Anchoragepress.com. However, his tongue is still swollen.
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