Actor James Van Der Beek has passed away after a battle with colorectal cancer, aged 48. Announced by his wife Kimberly on his Instagram page this morning, she shared that “he met his final days with courge, faith and grace.”
The father of six announced his Stage 3 colorectal cancer diagnosis in November 2024, sharing “I’ve been dealing with this privately until now, getting treatment and dialing in my overall health with greater focus than ever before. I’m in a good place and feeling strong. It’s been quite the initiation, and I’ll tell you more when I’m ready.”
Best known for playing Dawson Leery on the ’90s teen drama Dawson’s Creek, the series catapulted the actor into the spotlight. In November 2025, he announced he would be auctioning items from both Dawson’s Creek and Varsity Blues to assist with the costs associated with his cancer treatment.
Initially diagnosed in 2023, he kept the information private and was planning on an exclusive interview with People magazine when he was ready, but those plans were interrupted when he shared on his instagram page “There’s no playbook for how announce these things, but I’d planned on talking about it at length with People magazine at some point soon… to raise awareness and tell my story on my own terms. But that plan had to be altered early this morning when I was informed that a tabloid was going to run with the news.”
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