Val Kilmer says he's cured of his cancer, thanks to the power of love.
The former "Top Gun" star is a Christian Scientist, a faith that believes that illness and disease can be cured by prayer. In a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" on May 16, he said that "love heals" all.
"I am very grateful for all the prayers and good thoughts from around the world. People that know I am a Christian Scientist make the assumption that I have somehow endangered myself," he wrote after someone asked about his status. "But many many people have been healed by prayer throughout recorded history. And many many people have died by whatever was modern medicine."
The actor said he met the man who invented the defibrillator, the machine that sends electric shocks to the heart of victims of cardiac arrest, helping the heart beat normally again.
"I asked him what was the most important thing for a doctor to do when a patient fears for their life," Val wrote. "He started to weep without his voice wavering and he leaned into me and said, 'Fluff their pillow. That what I tell all the interns. LOVE. Love heals. More than any other skills, I urge them to LOVE the life they are entrusted to save.'"
In February 2015, TMZ reported that Val was rushed to the hospital after he started bleeding from his throat and that doctors operated and found a tumor — one that family members told the website Val had known about since the summer of 2014.
Family members further alleged to TMZ that Val did not want to seek treatment because of his religious beliefs. It wasn't until April 26, 2017 that Val admitted he had cancer.
His love and prayer cure, though, doesn't exactly line up with modern medicine.
"I have seen people turn down love. I have turned it down myself when I was younger. I still had hearings thru relying solely on prayer, and came in went from a very challenging faith," he said. "And sometimes had hearings when I didn't believe. It didn't matter in Jesus' day whether the patient believed. It doesn't matter today. Love doesn't care about our tiny human thoughts. Thats how I understand it anyway. I've probably tried to convince people when I was younger. I try to mind my own business now that I'm older. I also hope I never turn down Love again. It was an unspeakable sense of universal support while I was briefly in the hospital."