Having denied the rumours for a number of years, actor Val Kilmer admitted during a recent AMA on Reddit that he has been battling cancer.

Many have held fears for the Top Gun and Heat actor since October 2015 when he was seen at UCLA Medical Centre and later in December the same year with a tracheostomy tube in his neck.

On Halloween of last year, actor Michael Douglas revealed Kilmer’s oral cancer diagnosis when speaking to Jonathan Ross about their film The Ghost and the Darkness.

Douglas was previously diagnosed with stage 4 oral cancer in 2010, but was declared cancer-free following treatment in 2011. He said to Ross that Kilmer had not been seen in public recently because he was “dealing with exactly what I had, and things don’t look too good for him.”

Kilmer denied Douglas’ claims, and the reports of a possible tumour back in 2015, writing on Facebook in November: “I love Michael Douglas but he is misinformed.

“The last time I spoke to him was almost two years ago, when I asked him for a referral for a specialist to get a diagnosis for a lump in my throat, which prevented me from continuing a tour of my play CITIZEN TWAIN.”

He added: “I ended up using a team at UCLA and have no cancer whatsoever. I still have a swollen tongue and am rehabbing steadily.”

Last week, during an AMA on Reddit, a fan asked Kilmer: “A while ago, Michael Douglas claimed you had terminal cancer. What was the story behind that?”

“He was probably trying to help me cause press probably asked where I was these days, and I did have a healing of cancer,” Kilmer replied. “But my tongue is still swollen altho healing all the time. Because I don’t sound my normal self yet people think I may still be under the weather.”

While a “healing of cancer” is somewhat unclear, the post indicates that the veteran actor is recovering well.