Tom Cruise had a special bond with Top Gun costar Val Kilmer and has been left devastated in the wake of the actor’s death. A source exclusively tells In Touch Tom, who’s known in Hollywood to be almost too friendly, is wasting no time offering support to his late friend’s family, while joining the hordes of Hollywood power players who are vowing to do whatever they can to preserve Val’s legacy.
“Tom has been very shaken up. He admired Val so much, he’s really feeling this loss,” the source says. The Heat star died of pneumonia in his Los Angeles home on April 1, 2025, at the age of 65, his daughter Mercedes said. He had been diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 and underwent a tracheal surgery shortly thereafter that left his vocal cords damaged, severely limiting his ability to speak. He also underwent chemotherapy at his children’s request, despite the procedure being conventionally against his religion as a Christian Scientist. Val made a recovery from the cancer, though never fully escaped complications from the many medical procedures that ultimately worsened his fatal pneumonia.
For Tom, the source says, “He can’t wrap his head around the idea that Val is gone,” and the Mission: Impossible star, 62, is “heartbroken that he won’t get to see him again.”
Condolences from some of the industry’s other most-respected names came pouring in for the beloved Batman Forever actor after his death, too.
Twixt director Francis Ford Coppola stated, “He was a wonderful person to work with and a joy to know — I will always remember him.”
While Michael Mann said, “While working with Val on Heat, I always marveled at the range, the brilliant variability within the powerful current of Val’s possessing and expressing character. After so many years of Val battling disease and maintaining his spirit, this is tremendously sad news.”
Val’s former flame, Cher, who once said she had been “madly in love” with him, also paid tribute, writing, “VALUS Will miss u,U Were Funny,crazy,pain in the ass,GREAT FRIEND,kids U, BRILLIANT as Mark Twain, BRAVE here during ur sickness.”
Tom even asked for a moment of silence at CinemaCon for his late friend, but he has much more planned to honor his memory. “The loss has put a mirror in Tom’s face as far as his own mortality, but more than anything he’s sad for Val’s kids,” the insider adds. “He knows this has hit them very hard. Tom is all about taking action and has decided that the best way to honor Val is to set up some sort of scholarship in his name to help younger artists and make sure Val is never forgotten.”
“Tom doesn’t want to overstep, so he’s put the offer out to Val’s family so that they can have their say in it all,” the source explains. “He also doesn’t want to do this for any sort of glory, so he’s very clear it’s not something he wants to put his name on, he will want to be anonymous.”
“It’s also crucial to him that Val be honored within the Hollywood community, so he’s planning to reach out to the Academy to make sure that Val will be among those given a tribute at next years’ Oscars.”
