Being a dad was late actor James Van Der Beek's 'most treasured honor'

Actor James Van Der Beek has died at the age of 48 after battling colorectal cancer. He is survived by his wife Kimberly and their six living children — Olivia, Joshua, Annabel, Emilia, Gwendolyn, and Jeremiah (ages 15, 13, 12, 9, 7, and 4, respectively).

Key Takeaways:

• Van Der Beek was best known for his starring role on the late-1990s teen drama "Dawson's Creek."

• He met and married his wife Kimberly in 2009 and the couple had six surviving children together. He remarked that being a father was "the most treasured honor" of his life.

• While competing on "Dancing With The Stars" in 2019, Van Der Beek shared that Kimberly was pregnant, only for the couple to suffer a devastating miscarriage; the couple suffered multiple pregnancy losses, which they publicly discussed.

• In 2024, the family announced that Van Der Beek had been diagnosed with Stage 3 colorectal cancer. They sold "Dawson's Creek" memorabilia to pay for his treatment.

• Kimberly Van Der Beek shared the news of her husband's death on February 11.

The Details:

Kimberly Van Der Beek announced her husband's death on social media on February 11, writing:

Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning. He met his final days with courage, faith, and grace. There is much to share regarding his wishes, love for humanity, and the sacredness of time. Those days will come. For now we ask for peaceful privacy as we grieve our loving husband, father, son, brother, and friend.

A GoFundMe page was set up to benefit the Van Der Beek family, stating that due to his passing, "Kimberly and the children are facing an uncertain future. The costs of James’s medical care and the extended fight against cancer have left the family out of funds" after a previously reported net worth of $3 million.

Valuing children and the gift of fatherhood

Van Der Beek shot to fame in 1998 when he landed the starring role of Dawson Leery in the WB teen series "Dawson's Creek," which ran for six seasons. In 1999, he starred opposite Jon Voight in the movie "Varsity Blues," for which he won an MTV Movie Award.

Though he continued acting, he took smaller roles, returning to the spotlight in 2019 when he competed on "Dancing With The Stars."

During his time on the show, Van Der Beek joyfully shared that he and his wife, Kimberly, were expecting their sixth child, sharing an ultrasound and expressing relief that a heartbeat could be heard. The couple had suffered three miscarriages prior.

Sadly, a month later, during the show's semifinals, Van Der Beek shared that the couple had lost the baby, and was openly emotional about it:

“My wife Kimberly and I went through every expecting parent’s worst nightmare. We lost the baby. The little soul that we had expected to welcome into our family took a shortcut to whatever lies beyond.

You never know why these things happen; that’s what I’ve been telling my kids. All you know is that it brings you closer together, it breaks you open, it opens up your heart, it deepens your appreciation. It makes you more human.”

He dedicated his dance that night to Kimberly, and afterwards, collapsed to the floor, sobbing. He later explained on Instagram:

We’ve been through this before, but never this late in the pregnancy, and never accompanied by such a scary, horrific threat to [Kimberly] and her well-being. Grateful that she’s now recovering, but we’ve only just begun unpacking the layers of this one.

Kimberly later shared on social media that the baby they lost was a boy.

As Live Action News previously reported, Van Der Beek told PEOPLE that he and his wife were open about their pregnancy losses because "It’s a part of life. It really helps to go through when you have the support of friends and family. People so often go through it in secret. You need to allow yourself space to grieve and go through it." 

In 2021, they gave birth to their sixth surviving child, Jeremiah.

Van Der Beek loved being a father to his children. On Father's Day last June, he remarked on Instagram:

Being a father has been the most treasured honor of my life. Thank you to my kids for re-teaching me how to live, laugh, love, and show up in my own life and in the world.

And thank you to my super hero of a wife @vanderkimberly who constantly exceeds the boundaries of what I thought was human capacity. I love you all with all my heart.

He also penned extremely heartfelt, personal tributes to each of his children on their birthdays.

A devastating diagnosis led to a change in perspective

In 2023, Van Der Beek was diagnosed with Stage 3 colorectal cancer; he announced the diagnosis in 2024. Colorectal cancer has been rising in adults under 55, which is why he said he wanted to be public about his cancer battle.

He said being diagnosed with cancer was a shock, as he had been otherwise in excellent health. “The trickiest thing is there are so many unknowns with cancer,” he told PEOPLE. “You think, ‘How do I fix this? Is this healing me? Is this hurting me? Is this working? Is it coming back?’ As someone who likes answers, not knowing is one of the hardest things."

At the time, he said he felt "cautiously optimistic," and added "I have a lot to live for."

In an interview with podcaster Jana Kramer, he said the experience taught him how to change his perspective on life, and the cultural idea that people are only valuable based on what they can offer others. He said:

"… Because dealing with cancer [treatment]… I couldn’t be a father, I couldn't be a husband, I couldn't be a provider, and I couldn't be any of these things that I had used as my identity. And so, you know, the conclusion that I came to was that even without all that, I'm still worthy of love simply because I exist.…

So... that's what I try to teach my kids, you know, is just… They’re worthy of love just for being them.”

This was particularly relevant when he expressed his frustrations over not being able to provide for his family, and how he was very negative toward himself. He said in a video posted to Instagram:

"When I was younger I used to define myself as an actor, which was never really all that fulfilling. And then I became a husband, which was much better. And then I became a father, and that was the ultimate. I could define myself then as a loving, capable, strong, supportive husband and father, provider...

Then, this year, I had to look my own mortality in the eye and come nose-to-nose with death. And all of those definitions that I cared so deeply about were stripped from me.

I was away for treatment, so I could no longer be a husband that was helpful to my wife. I could no longer be a father who could pick up his kids and put them to bed and be there for them. I could not be a provider because I wasn't working...."

He reiterated that it all ultimately led him to realize that he was basing his own value and worth in the wrong things, and he then discovered that he was "worthy of God's love, simply because I exist. And if I'm worthy of God's love, shouldn't I be worthy of my own?"

Van Der Beek also said it was his family that kept him going when things felt hard.

"I’m more grateful than ever to my super human wife who has shown up on levels I never knew possible. Who has shown me what unconditional love is and the magic that comes from that. I am in awe of you," he wrote on Instagram during Thanksgiving of 2024. "And of course, I’m beyond thankful [for] the little blond army of hearts who keep me present, active, and inspired just by being you. I love you guys beyond."

He later began auctioning off memorabilia from "Dawson's Creek" and "Varsity Blues" to help pay for his cancer treatment. By 2025, he largely had disappeared from the public eye. He gave an interview in December to NBC6, saying his biggest fear was not being able to see his children grow up.

"It's been the wildest, hardest journey I've ever had in this lifetime. It's required more patience, more discipline, more strength than I knew I had, quite frankly," he said. "But there's also been a lot of beauty in it."

The Bottom Line:

In one of his last interviews in December 2025, Van Der Beek spoke with Today's Craig Melvin, reflecting on how his cancer journey changed his focus. Parade reported:

He acknowledged that before he learned he had cancer, “God was something I tried to fit into my life as much as possible.”

After the diagnosis, Van Der Beek came to feel that his connection to God, whatever that looked like, was “the whole point of this exercise on this planet.”