Dawson's Creek Star James Van Der Beek Gets Candid About His Difficult Cancer Battle; Admits 'It Has Been the Hardest Year'

James Van Der Beek opens up about his fight with cancer and how it impacted his marriage, family life, and identity. Read on to know the details.

Written by Ipshita Chakraborty , Entertainment Journalist

Published on Mar 15, 2025 | 07:02 PM GMT | 8.3K

CC: Instagram

James Van Der Beek has recently opened up about how his fight with cancer transformed his marriage, family life, and identity. He was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer.

In an emotional Instagram video celebrating his 48th birthday, the former Dawson's Creek star reminisced about the difficulties of the last year, describing it as the toughest of his life.

He opened his video saying, "It has been the hardest year of my life, and I wanted to share something that I learned with y’all."

Van Der Beek discussed that, throughout most of his career, he identified with work as an actor — something which he conceded never satisfied. Slowly but surely, he directed more of his energy to personal roles and, for his own sense of well-being, allowed himself to embody the role that is being a devoted husband, father, and breadwinner.

"I could define myself then as a capable, loving, strong, supportive husband, father, provider, steward of the land we’re so lucky to live on," he said, adding, "And for a long time, that felt like a really good answer to the question, ‘Who am I?'"

However, that outlook was shaken last year following his cancer diagnosis. Coming face to face with his own mortality, Van Der Beek spoke of arriving "nose to nose with death," conceding that the rigorous treatments made him unable to play the parts he had long been proud of.

Van Der Beek, who shares six kids with his wife Kimberly, said he "could no longer be the husband that was helpful to [his] wife," or "no longer be a father, who could pick up his kids and put them and be there for them."

His illness also rendered him incapable of working, preventing him from earning money — a situation that ranked particularly difficult with him. In the past, the actor has sold movie merch to assist with medical bills, and explaining the experience made him question his sense of self-worth.

The One Tree Hill actor eventually came to a profound insight: "I am worthy of God’s love, simply because I exist. And if I’m worthy of God’s love, shouldn’t I also be worthy of my own?"

The emotional introspection captures the Dawson's Creek actor's transition from measuring his worth by his professional and family status to accepting his inherent value, even as the physical and emotional battle of cancer has heavily impacted his life. James Van Der Beek and Kimberly have been happily married since August 2010 and have a family of six children.