Val Kilmer and Daughter Put in an Emergency Situation
By starting at a young age with their children, most parents hope that the ‘what to do in case of an emergency’ lessons they teach their kids will save them — or their friends — when the time comes. Val Kilmer’s daughter, Mercedes, recently was put into a 911-situation of her own when one of her best friends got high and suddenly passed out during a night-on-the-town to see a concert. Luckily for Val’s 16-year-old daughter, she had her cell phone on hand and called the first person she could: her dad.
The 48-year-old actor, who was on his way into the movies with his son, Jack, remembers the night well, saying, "She didn’t know what was going on [and] called 911 … she’s going back and forth on calls with me." As a father of two kids, Val’s first reaction was to help his daughter and try to get numbers of friend’s parents while the ambulance took the girl to the hospital. Although the teenager did flat-line in the ambulance, paramedics "zapped her back to life because of my daughter, and probably at least saved her from whatever percentage of brain damage and maybe saved her life."
For now, if Mercedes wants to call her dad for help again, it will have to be long distance as she is in France at the moment. Sending out a message to his daughter, Val jokingly went on to say,
God knows what she is doing. If you can hear me, call me. You’re in the doghouse.
Source: OK! Magazine; Photo by Jesse Grant/WireImage.
- Posted on Jul 25, 08 at 5:00AM
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- 8 Comments
July 25th, 2008 at 6:09 am
Thank goodness that story turned out like it did.
July 25th, 2008 at 10:53 am
Kudos to Val for establishing such an open and trusting relationship with his daughter. It speaks volumes that she trusted and respected him enough to call him when she found herself in a situation she couldn’t handle. So many parents try to “scare their kids straight” and the kids rebel even more.
When I was 16, I would not have hesitated to call my parents in this situation, but I know many other kids who wouldn’t have.
July 25th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
The downside is that along with her friend getting high, she probably was too which didn’t help the situation. I guess that’s what he meant by not handling it in the greatest way.
July 25th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Got high on what? Cocaine? If so, that is pretty serious for a 16 year old, more serious than the tone of this article and dad’s response makes it out to be.
July 25th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Sasha, she was high on marijuana.
July 25th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
That’s weird. Why on earth would you suddenly pass out if all it was, was MJ. Cocaine is a silly assumption (no offense). I think it’s great that she felt she could call her dad, it’s possible that kid would be dead if she was too scared to call her parents in a time of emergency. And it’s not justified to assume because one is high on something the other must be as well. Maybe she was but it’s just as possible she wasn’t. Kids are going to do some crazy things, the ones that aren’t terrified their parents will kill them if they find out are the ones that turn out alright for the most part.
Like Michelle, above, I wouldn’t have hesitated to call my mom but I know of some situations with other kids that went bad because they were afraid to call for help.
July 25th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
Jen, some people have medical issues in which pot would cause complications like that. My sister has heart problems, and was told by her doctor that it was a good thing she never tried drugs as a teenager, because if she had even tried pot, it is likely she would have died.
July 31st, 2008 at 2:49 pm
People with certain heart problems (which may not be readily detectable) can have major issues with pot. It can cause the heart rate to skyrocket, which can lead to cardiac arrest. Other drugs, like Cocaine, can be even more dangerous. Realistically, kids are kids and lots of them experiment, but it’s important to know all the risks associated with doing so (in addition to the legal implications).