Val Kilmer’s daughter was terrified as he tried to cure his throat cancer without medical help.
The 60-year-old actor has children Jack, 24, and Mercedes, 28, from his marriage to ex-wife Joanne Whalley and when Val first started feeling unwell and developed a lump in his throat, he planned to pray with his Christian Science practitioner to treat the illness, rather than see a doctor.
Mercedes – who stars with her dad in new thriller ‘Paydirt’ – revealed her father collapsed in 2015 and told The Mirror newspaper: "He was rushed to hospital. It got so big it caused a blood vessel to pop. He was bleeding out of his mouth. I remember almost fainting in the hospital.
"They gave me juice and I had to sit on the floor. Then the doctor said he had stage four cancer – he hadn’t been formally diagnosed until then.
"It was devastating. I thought that was it. Because it was in such an advanced state, I didn’t think he’d survive long.
"People had really wanted him to get it attended to but he had faith in his body’s ability to fight it off. It was obvious he was sick but he didn’t want to go to the doctor, which I respect. He wanted to do things his way."
Meanwhile, Val previously revealed he only had medical treatment after his children – who are not Christian Scientists – convinced him.
He told the New York Times newspaper: "[I had the] suggestion of throat cancer." [In Christian Science], "the idea is rather than say I have it or possess it, there is a claim, there’s a suggestion that this is a fact".
He added: "I just didn’t want to experience their fear, which was profound. I would’ve had to go away, and I just didn’t want to be without them."
Val previously denied having cancer and explained: "[People] said I was denying that I had cancer, and when they asked me, I didn’t have cancer. It was a bit like do you have a broken bone? And if you broke it in high school, you would say no. Suddenly suspect. I have had a bone broken, but why are you being so aggressive? I had a bone broken. It was broken in my leg. ‘Oh, so you have a broken leg.’ ‘No, no, I don’t,’ I say. I did have a broken leg.
"There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so. I prayed, and that was my form of treatment."