The 'Dawson's Creek' alum's wife Kimberly announced his death on Feb. 11
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NEED TO KNOW
- James Van Der Beek said his cancer journey helped him appreciate life’s “little, beautiful moments” months before his death
- The Dawson’s Creek star reflected on one of the “gifts” of his 2023 colorectal cancer diagnosis during a Today interview in December 2025
- “And now I’m able, much more, to just settle into that exact moment,” he told Craig Melvin at the time
James Van Der Beek expressed gratitude amid his cancer journey months before his death at 48.
The Dawson's Creek alum said in a Dec. 19 interview on Today that his 2023 colorectal cancer diagnosis helped him appreciate life's "little, beautiful moments" and had given him the "gift" of "presence."
"I think before cancer, I took all these little, beautiful moments as part of a collective," the actor told anchor Today's Craig Melvin.
"I was just aware of everything. And now I’m able, much more, to just settle into that exact moment," he added. So presence is really the gift that cancer’s given me."
Van Der Beek's wife Kimberly Van Der Beek, announced the news of his death on Instagram on Wednesday, Feb. 11. She wrote in a caption that he "passed peacefully this morning" and "met his final days with courage, faith, and grace."
Credit: Presley Ann/Shutterstock
Also during his Today sit-down with Melvin, Van Der Beek told the anchor he "would not be alive if it weren’t for my wife" — referring to Kimberly Van Der Beek, with whom he shares six children.
"She just has stepped up as a caretaker, as a nurse, as head of the household," he said. "And then my kids, as much as I want to shield them from seeing me in any kind of pain or stress, I wanted to be Superman, Super Dad. You realize that resilience is not only something that they have and can build, but it’s the best thing for them."
While the actor said he "went into shock" amid hearing of the diagnosis, he said that "one of the things I was really lucky about was when I heard the news, I was like, ‘This is gonna be the best thing that’s ever happened to me.’"
"I had this little voice in my head that said, ‘You’re gonna make changes in your life that you would never, ever make if you didn’t have this extreme of a diagnosis, and it’s gonna add healthy, happy years to your life,'" he said.
Van Der Beek also said he was on a "journey of self-love" following his diagnosis. "What I realized was is, I’m still worthy of love — my own love, God’s love."
The Dawson's Creek star announced his stage 3 colorectal cancer diagnosis (which he was diagnosed with in 2023) publicly in November 2024. Colorectal cancer, per the American Cancer Society, starts in the colon or the rectum, which make up the large intestine in the digestive system.
At the time, he told PEOPLE exclusively that he had been "privately dealing with this diagnosis and have been taking steps to resolve it, with the support of my incredible family."
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