"He always calls me..." - When Cher revealed the nicknames she and Val Kilmer had for each other

In the wake of losing acting legend Val Kilmer, several celebrities have spoken about the impact the late actor had on their lives and careers. Cher, a former partner of Kilmer, opened up to PEOPLE about their relationship in 2020, providing insight into their past romance. This interview has resurfaced following the news of his passing.

Amongst the most interesting tidbits from the interview was Cher's claim that the couple used nicknames for one another when they were out in public.

"He never calls me Cher. He always calls me Ethel"

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Val Kilmer and Cher's Relationship

In the aforementioned PEOPLE interview, Cher detailed further why the nickname system was in place during their relationship.

"Val didn't want to yell Cher, I didn't want to yell Val, so we just called ourselves Sid and Ethel. And we also called ourselves one other thing, Vallus Maximus and Cherus Reprimandus."

The singer continued,

"It means what it says. It was just kind of who I was in the household.”

While the pair remained friends, Cher did say they met less and less over time.

"We don't see each other all that often. He always wants me to come down to his studio, but there are a lot of people and I get embarrassed. He always wants me to come and do something, and then I just go, 'I can't, Vallus, I just can't.' Or he'll just say, 'Cher, come on.'"

A year later, in 2021, Cher elaborated on how their relationship came to fruition when speaking to PEOPLE.

“We became friends because we laughed at the same things constantly. He would sleep over and it was just a friendship [at first]. It went from madly in love and laughing hysterically to respecting each other's ability. We had unbelievable times and then put up with some times when they weren't [that way] because we were both alpha males. We were both individuals and neither of us was going to give up on that."

Interestingly, their friendship stood the test of time, with Kilmer ultimately staying at Cher's guest house after first receiving his cancer diagnosis in 2015. In a November 2024 interview with The Howard Stern Show, Cher opened up further about their relationship: "Sometimes, you're only meant to stay with someone for so long, and Val was ... really young." After the news of Kilmer's passing was confirmed, Cher took to X to share a message about her dear friend, Val.

“VALUS Will miss u,U Were Funny,crazy,pain in the ass, GREAT FRIEND,kids(heart)U, BRILLIANT as Mark Twain, BRAVE here during ur sickness”

It's heartwarming to see the evolution of their relationship over the years, something that speaks volumes about the late Val's character up until the moment he passed.