Michael Douglas has said that fellow actor Val Kilmer has been secretly battling cancer. The 72-year-old star made the claim during a Q&A with Jonathan Ross in London on Sunday, and told his host that "things don't look too good" for the Batman star.
Val, 56, has been in and out of hospital in recent years with throat problems, but has denied on a number of occasions that he has the disease. He has so far not commented on Michael's claims.
Michael Douglas sat down for a Q&A with Jonathan Ross on Sunday evening
During An Evening with Michael Douglas at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane at the weekend, Michael was asked about the pair's time together working on the 1996 film The Ghost and the Darkness, the Sun reports.
"The picture didn't turn out as well as I had hoped but I had a wonderful time," Michael said. "Val was a wonderful guy who is dealing with exactly what I had, and things don't look too good for him.
"My prayers are with him. That's why you haven't heard too much from Val lately."
He claimed that Val Kilmer is battling cancer, adding: "Things don't look too good for him'
Val sparked concerns for his health last year when he was pictured wearing a tracheostomy tube. He later took to Facebook to deny that he was battling throat cancer, saying that he had undergone an undisclosed procedure that had left "swelling".
In June 2015, he told his fans: "I am perfectly well folks. Thank you for all love and support. I am having a grand time. And I should mention I do not have cancer or a tumour."
Michael, meanwhile, first announced he was battling throat cancer in 2010, and later underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatment, before being given the all-clear the following year.
He later revealed that he had actually been suffering from stage four tongue cancer, but had been advised by a physician not to clarify at the time, due to the potential for disfigurement.
Michael also opened up about his own fight with the disease
Speaking on Sunday about his fight against the disease, he said: "I had to deal with chemo, radiation, which is a seven week period, and a bunch of weeks either side.
"My kids were pretty good about it. I was really honest about it and you just progressively as you take the chemo and radiation, you get weaker and not moving around.
"I had a very nice couch in my den, which I lived on. You know, there's not a lot of choices really. That's what you go through. They were wonderfully supportive, Catherine (Zeta-Jones) was too."
He added: "There was a period where they were taking about if it doesn't work in my particular situation with the throat, that they have to do surgery you're probably not going to have much of a film career with that.
"It's all going through your mind but I went with it and stuck with the attitude, let's just do this whole thing and we'll deal with it afterwards.
"They'll test me afterwards and we'll see if it's successful. If we are, great, if not we'll have to look at what the alternatives are."