She loved him. He left. Forty years later, she was the one who came when he couldn’t breathe. In the early 1980s, Val Kilmer was 21 and still mostly known for stage work. Cher was in her mid-thirties and already a global star. A mutual friend approached him in a New York restaurant and said Cher wanted to meet him. Kilmer said no—he didn’t think they would have anything in common. He went anyway. By the end of the night, she was on the back of his Harley. The age gap drew attention. They ignored it. They laughed at the same things, gave each other private nicknames (Sid and Ethel) so they could call across a room without turning heads, and later used the more elaborate versions Valus Maximus and Cherus Reprimandus. Her children, Chaz and Elijah, liked him. For roughly two years, it worked. Around 1984, Kilmer ended it. Cher later said plainly that she had been madly in love with him and that he was the one who left. In Hollywood, that is usually the end of the story. This one continued. They stayed friends. They kept the nicknames. They texted and emailed for decades, even when they didn’t see each other often. Then, in the mid-2010s, Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer. Treatment, including a tracheotomy, permanently changed his voice. Cher offered him a place to stay in her guest house. One night he woke up vomiting blood, called 911, and then called for her. She came. In his memoir he wrote simply that Cher “stepped in and stepped up.” Even then, covered in blood and waiting for help, he looked at her and wiggled his eyebrows like Groucho Marx. She laughed. In 2021 he released a documentary about his life and illness. Cher watched it and wrote to him. The note was addressed to Sid and signed Ethel. Val Kilmer died on April 1, 2025, at 65. The next day Cher said goodbye using the name she had called him for more than forty years. Their romance lasted about two years. The friendship lasted the rest of his life. Some people leave. Some people keep a key. ❤️