James Van Der Beek is all about transparency when it comes to his cancer journey — especially with his kids.
“I’m far from an expert, but our approach was just to be as honest as possible, as honest to the degree of their understanding, right? Because they know,” Van Der Beek, 48, explained on Today on Wednesday, July 30, while discussing how he and wife Kimberly Van Der Beek told their six kids about his stage 3 colorectal cancer diagnosis.
The couple share daughters Olivia, 14, Annabel, 11, Emilia, 9, and Gwendolyn, 6, and sons Joshua, 13, and Jeremiah, 2.
James added that his children can “sense that Dad’s having a tough day.”
“They know if Dad’s in pain. They know, and so by not telling them, I think you’re confusing them even more,” he continued.
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The Dawson’s Creek alum encouraged parents who are going through the same thing to allow their children to offer support emotionally, because they would be surprised at how much kids can handle.
“When you tell them what you’re doing and you tell them the approach, they can see it and they can feel it, and I think it’s also, your journey is their journey,” he said. “I have kids making me tea. ‘Dad, what do you need?’ There’s been a lot of beauty that’s come out of it, but I would love to save everybody [from] this journey, which is why I’m saying get screened.”
James was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in August 2023, but he didn’t make his diagnosis public until November 2024.
“Each year, approximately 2 billion people around the world receive this diagnosis. And I’m one of them,” he wrote in an Instagram post at the time, revealing that he was “in a good place and feeling strong” while undergoing treatment.
In an interview with People, James revealed that his cancer had reached stage 3.
“I’ve been privately dealing with this diagnosis and have been taking steps to resolve it, with the support of my incredible family,” he said. “There’s reason for optimism, and I’m feeling good.”
James compared fighting cancer to having a “full-time job,” between scheduling appointments, tracking test results and handling insurance.
He reiterated his comparison in an interview with Today.com, adding that his cancer journey is a “process” — one that he would likely be going through “for the rest of my life.”
However, James said that he’s found an escape in work. He is set to star in Prime Video’s upcoming series Elle, a Legally Blonde prequel about high school Elle Woods (originally played by Reese Witherspoon, who is producing the show).
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“The greatest thing about work is cancer doesn’t exist between action and cut,” he explained. “It was fun to drop in and just have a blast because it’s such a great cast, a great production, and everybody out there is really talented.”
Overall, Van Der Beek said that he’s “feeling great” and encouraged others to follow colon cancer screening guidelines.
“Even just the slightest little change, it could be something, but … don’t think that not having symptoms means you don’t have to get screened, especially for something that is this curable when caught early,” he said. “That’s really what I want to get across. I ate as well as I could. I was healthy. I was in amazing cardiovascular shape. There was no reason in my mind that I should have gotten a positive diagnosis.”
