Actor James Van Der Beek dies at age 48 after being diagnosed with colorectal cancer
The actor, known for his roles in “Dawson’s Creek” and “Varsity Blues,” was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer in 2023.
Editor’s note: James Van Der Beek, the actor known for embodying the formative, angst teenage years of “Dawson’s Creek” and “Varsity Blues,” has died after being diagnosed with colorectal cancer. He was 48 years old.
Six months before Van Der Beek died, he spoke to USA TODAY’s Charles Trepaney about his experience with cancer and how the disease affected his outlook on life.
James Van Der Beek has just woken up from a nap and is joining a Microsoft Teams call.
Nearly nine months after revealing his colorectal cancer diagnosis to the world, the 48-year-old actor’s face appears to be thinner. He isn’t shy about talking about the toll his illness has taken. He admits he doesn’t have as much energy as he used to. He has good days and bad days.
But he added that while he wouldn’t wish his illness to happen to anyone, the illness has given him something else, something he wasn’t expecting: a deeper sense of self-love.
“Cancer is a tricky thing,” he says. “You have to look at your own mortality and decide what’s important and really decide what you want to live the rest of your life without. So one of the big things for me was realizing how negative my self-talk was.”
“In therapy, in the quiet, away from the beautiful cacophony of 36 acres, five dogs, a bearded dragon, and the beautiful chaos that is my life, I realized how negatively I had been talking to myself. And that started this whole journey of just realizing how important self-love is and how necessary and how easy it is.”
James Van Der Beek and how cancer changed him
Van der Beek first revealed that he has colorectal cancer in an interview with People magazine in November, revealing that he was diagnosed in August 2023. He said his cancer was discovered during a colonoscopy. Now, he is partnering with Guardant Health to encourage people to get cancer screenings, whether they have symptoms or not. Together, Van Der Beek and Guardant Health are also raising awareness about the Shield blood test, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration last year. Although this blood test can also detect colon cancer, colonoscopy remains the gold standard for diagnosis.
Van der Beek says early diagnosis often saves lives. It was for him.
“The biggest misconception for me is that you have to have symptoms to get tested,” he says. “Even though I was very healthy and had amazing cardiovascular health, I had full-blown stage 3 cancer and I didn’t know it.”
The actor said cancer forced him to take a hard look at his life. It made him rethink what was important and let go of what wasn’t. It also made him reconsider who he was.
“I had to look at myself and say, ‘If I’m just an overly skinny guy alone in a room with cancer, what am I?’ And the conclusion I came to after some meditation was that I was still worthy of love. I was still worthy of God’s love, but I was also worthy of self-love just by existing,” he says. “My conclusion is that I believe we are here to experience love – to connect with love, to give love, and to receive love. But I believe that in order to receive love, we must first have love ourselves.”
Why he wants to work harder than ever
Van der Beek refused to let cancer stop him from acting. In fact, he says it motivated him to do more of acting and other things he loves. Van Der Beek recently appeared in Amazon’s “Overcompensating” and will also appear in the upcoming “Legally Blonde” spinoff series “Elle.”
Before getting cancer, Van Der Beek said he was on the verge of taking a step back from acting. But since receiving his diagnosis, he’s gotten back into it.
“For a second, I thought, ‘You know what? I don’t need acting. I don’t need acting like I used to,'” he says. “I’m very, very happy just being able to work here with my family. And then when I got cancer, I realized that I love telling stories. Acting is actually a real passion. Writing is a real passion and you have to feed it. So I joke that I’m the only person I know who got cancer and realized they had to work more.”
One of the best things about acting, he says, is that you don’t have to worry about anything else while the cameras are rolling. You live in the moment and don’t think about anything else, including cancer.
Regarding family life, Van Der Beek said all of his children dealt with his illness differently. The actor and his wife Kimberly Brooke have six children, ranging in age from 3 to 14.
When it comes to parenting with a medical condition, Van Der Beek has a policy of honesty. Being transparent, he says, “really allowed for some lovely moments of connection” with his children.
“We made the choice to be as honest with them as possible,” he says. “They all hide it in different ways. They all hide it in different ways. Their concerns manifest in different ways within each of them. But again, when I tell them what I’m going through, they can actually show up to me in such a wonderful way. ‘Dad, can I buy you a cup of tea?’ ‘No, Dad, I’ll get you one.’ ‘How are you feeling today?’ They know when I’m having a bad day. That is, children, they understand everything. ”
He’s grateful for the new perspective cancer has brought him, but it’s clear he wishes he could live in a world where no one ever has to go through cancer. That’s why he’s “shouting from the rooftops, ‘Get tested. Talk to your doctor.'”
“I feel good,” he says. “I’ve learned a lot. But if I can save people from having to go through this journey, I definitely will. I still don’t give colorectal cancer a star.”
