Jamie Lynn Sigler had the rare privilege of saying goodbye to her friend James Van Der Beek in the days before his tragic passing – a bond that deepened over the years in Austin, Texas, where their families grew close and they quietly leaned on each other through their shared health battles.
“Oh, James,” Sigler exclusively tells Us Weekly in this week’s cover story while reflecting on Van Der Beek’s death. “I’ve never met somebody that is better at and enjoys being a father more.”
Like Sigler, the actor, who died of colorectal cancer on February 11 at the age of 48, had moved to Austin to get some space from Hollywood and focus on family life with wife Kimberly and their six kids (Olivia, 15, Joshua, 14, Annabel, 12, Emilia, 10, Gwendolyn, 7, and Jeremiah, 4).
“Nobody did it better than James and Kimberly,” Sigler, 44, continues. “And their children are living proof of how beautifully they have parented and guided and lived with such intention and such care.”
Jamie-Lynn Sigler Mourns ‘Magical’ James Van Der Beek After His Death
The Sopranos alum, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) at age 20, adds that she and James “bonded a lot on what our illnesses can teach us” and how they grew from the experiences.
“I’m devastated that my friend is no longer here, you know?” Sigler says. “I think we all knew that there was so much more he could have done, but also, in his passing, to see how loved and celebrated he is and will always be. I don’t think he even knew that.”
Reflecting on how much James meant to those around him, Sigler adds that actors often lose sight of their own impact. “It can be easy to get stuck on what the next thing is — or what you want to accomplish next, or what you want to do next — but sometimes you can step back and be like, ‘I’ve done some f***ing great stuff,’ you know what I mean?”
“I don’t know if James fully knew that,” Sigler says, adding that she hopes to “honor” him by remembering to give herself that same grace.
Kimberly Van Der Beek Honors Late James Van Der Beek on His Birthday
Sigler explains that she also learned about “faith and acceptance” from James.
“Him and I had had many long conversations around that. I think really stepping into my acceptance and faith happened here in Austin, and with him, too. And being honest about pain and being brave in the face of it,” she says. “We had a lot of like, ‘I see you’ moments, where we would push ourselves past maybe what our body is telling us it wants to do, because we want to be present in these moments. We don’t want to miss out on these moments with our friends or our children, and we shared many long eye contact moments of that.”
Sigler says she “always felt very held and seen” by James. “Our dream was always that him and I were going to dance together one day, and I got to see him a few days before he passed, and sit at his bedside, and I told him, ‘You wait for me, because we’re going to do that dance.’”
