Beek

JAMES Van Der Beek and his wife Kimberly renewed their wedding vows on his deathbed, just days before he passed away.

The iconic Dawson’s Creek actor, 48, sadly died last week after a cancer battle, leaving his friends, family and fans devastated.

Along with his wife, Kimberly, James is survived by their six children Olivia, 14, Joshua, 12, Annabel, 10, Emilia, 8, Gwen, 6, and Jeremiah, 3.

Now his heartbroken wife has revealed how the couple renewed their vows shortly before he died.

Kimberly revealed they managed to quickly put together a small ceremony with the help of close friends and family.

Speaking to People, she said: “We decided two days beforehand, and our friends got us new rings, filled our bedroom with flowers and candles, and we renewed our vows from bed.”

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Kimberly described the ceremony as “simple and beautiful and moving”.

In a sweet moment, musician Poranguí, a close friend of the couple, played Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

James and Kimberly met in 2009 and immediately fell in love.

Following a whirlwind romance they got married the next year, while they were expecting their first child.

Sadly, 16 years after their wedding, James had passed away.

Fans were left in shock when it was revealed by Kimberly and the actor’s family, that he had died after battling cancer.

The heartbreaking statement read: “Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning. He met his final days with courage, faith, and grace.

“There is much to share regarding his wishes, love for humanity and the sacredness of time.

“Those days will come. For now we ask for peaceful privacy as we grieve our loving husband, father, son, brother, and friend.”

The actor had been battling stage three colorectal cancer since 2024.

James spent the final years of his life advocating for early screenings to help spread awareness.

The actor got his start in small television roles on Clarissa Explains It All in 1993, As The World Turns in 1995 and Aliens in the Family in 1996.

He then scored the breakout role of Dawson Leery on Dawson’s Creek from 1998 to 2003 alongside Katie Holmes, Joshua Jackson and Michelle Williams.

After finding success with the teenage drama, he went on to star in Varsity Blues in 1999, Scary Movie in 2000 and The Rules of Attraction in 2002.

He then had appearances on TV shows Criminal Minds in 2007, Ugly Betty in 2007, One Tree Hill in 2008, and Law and Order in 2011 and 2012.

Other appearances include How I Met Your Mother, CSI and Modern Family.

One of his final roles was on two episodes of Overcompensating in 2025.

James has won two MTV Movie Awards, one Teen Choice Award and other honors.

Support for James Van Der Beek’s family continues to pour in. The GoFundMe created to support them following the “Dawson’s Creek” star’s death approached $2.3 million in donations Friday morning.

Steven Spielberg and his wife Kate Capshaw are among the celebrity donors who have contributed to the fundraiser organized by the late actor’s friends. The couple’s donation is listed as $25,000. Those familiar with Van Der Beek’s breakout role on the millennial teen drama know that Spielberg is Dawson Leery’s favorite director.

Originally airing from 1998 to 2003, “Dawson’s Creek” was a seminal teen drama that followed four friends growing up in a small coastal town as they navigated their dreams, relationships and various coming-of-age milestones. Van Der Beek’s Dawson was an aspiring filmmaker whose dreams were bigger than his small hometown. Along with friends Joey (Katie Holmes), Pacey (Joshua Jackson) and Jen (Michelle Williams), Dawson grappled with very relatable teen dilemmas including heartbreak, betrayal and bad decisions.

The fundraiser, which had more than 44,000 donors as of Friday morning, was organized to help support Van Der Beek’s wife and children, who “are facing an uncertain future” due to the financial strain of the late actor’s medical costs. The late actor died following a battle with colorectal cancer. Funds will be used to “help cover essential living expenses, pay bills, and support the children’s education,” the organizers wrote.

Van Der Beek revealed in 2012 that he had been paid “almost nothing” for his work on “Dawson’s Creek” and had not received any residuals from the hit show.

“There was no residual money,” he told “Today.” “I was 20. It was a bad contract. I saw almost nothing from that.”

Before his death, Van Der Beek auctioned off personal memorabilia and sold collectibles to help pay for his cancer treatments. In September, his “Dawson’s Creek” co-stars helped organize and stage a reunion fundraiser to support Van Der Beek and his family — a reunion the actor had to miss because of a virus. “Black Bird” actor Paul Walter Hauser had also been raising funds through Cameo videos and auctions to help the late actor prior to his death.

Besides Spielberg, celebrity donors to Van Der Beek’s GoFundMe also reportedly include Zoe Saldaña, Jon M. Chu, Derek Hough, Busy Philipps, Jenna Dewan and others.

Van Der Beek’s “Dawson’s Creek” colleagues have also been among the many who have shared tributes to the late actor.

“Several times today, from my heart, I’ve tried to form the words to express the beautiful brilliance of James and what his presence has meant to my life,” “Dawson’s” creator Kevin Williamson wrote Thursday in a post shared on Instagram. “But I am truly at a loss for words. I will have to trust that one day those words will come… But today, all I can think about is Kimberly and the entire Van Der Beek family.”

Holmes, meanwhile, shared a handwritten note addressed to Van Der Beek on Instagram Wednesday. She was the first of “Dawson’s Creek’s” surviving core quartet to publicly acknowledge Van Der Beek’s death.

“Thank you,” Holmes wrote in her note, which was addressed to Van Der Beek. “To share a space with your imagination is sacred — breathing the same air in the land of make believe and trusting that each others’ hearts are safe in their expression.”

In her remembrance, Holmes highlighted their shared “laughter, conversations about life, James Taylor songs” and their “adventures of a unique youth.” She also highlighted Van Der Beek’s “Bravery. Compassion. Selflessness [and] Strength.”

“I mourn this loss with a heart holding the reality of his absence and deep gratitude for his imprint on it,” wrote Holmes, who also sent love to Van Der Beek’s wife and children in her message.

Other members of the extended “Dawson’s Creek” family, including actors Chad Michael Murray, Kerr Smith and Sasha Alexander, have also been among those offering condolences and paying tribute to Van Der Beek and his family online.

“James Van Der Beek was one in a billion and he will be forever missed and i don’t know what else to say,” wrote Busy Philipps in her Instagram tribute. “He was my friend and i loved him and i’m so grateful for our friendship all these years.”

JAMES Van Der Beek made ‘no money’ from his starring role in Dawson’s Creek due to a clause in his contract about reruns of the hit series.

Actor James passed away on Wednesday following a two year battle with colorectal cancer.

Friends then set up a GoFundMe to support his wife Kimberley and their six children, who are said to be at risk of losing their home due to the cost of James’s medical bills.

James shot to fame in 1998 as lead character Dawson Leery in Dawson’s Creek.

Despite the show’s huge popularity – which has continued since it ended in 2003 – he previously confessed he makes no money from reruns or streaming deals.

Speaking to Today in 2012, James explained: “There was no residual money.

“I was 20. It was a bad contract. I saw almost nothing from that.”

Following James’s heartbreaking death, friends were quick to jump into action to support his wife and their children Olivia, 15, Joshua, 13, Annabel, 12, Emilia, 9, Gwendolyn, 7, and Jeremiah, 4.

A GoFundMe page was set up and donations have already surpassed $1 million.

The message on the account reads: “In the wake of this loss, Kimberly and the children are facing an uncertain future. 

“The costs of James’s medical care and the extended fight against cancer have left the family out of funds.

“They are working hard to stay in their home and to ensure the children can continue their education and maintain some stability during this incredibly difficult time. 

“The support of friends, family, and the wider community will make a world of difference as they navigate the road ahead.”

Following his diagnosis with cancer in 2023 James began working with Propstore to sell off his Dawson’s Creek memorabilia in order to cover his medical costs.

When “Dawson’s Creek” premiered on Jan. 20, 1998, I was 11 years old. I had never been in a love triangle or gotten drunk at a house party. Yet, like so many other millennials, I religiously set the VHS player to record “Dawson’s Creek” every week on the WB.

My parents didn’t approve of their impressionable child devouring the semi-debaucherous teen melodrama, so I labeled the VHS tapes “The Brady Bunch,” then routinely snuck out of bed late at night to quietly watch Dawson, Joey, Pacey and Jen navigate their hormonal angst via unbelievably erudite dialogue.

On Wednesday, “Dawson’s Creek” star James Van Der Beek died at 48 after being diagnosed with colorectal cancer. He left behind six kids, a wife and decades of work across film and television.

But for many millennials, he will always be Dawson Leery.

Van Der Beek’s health was already in decline when I profiled “Dawson’s Creek” creator Kevin Williamson for The Times last year. Still, the actor kindly agreed to answer questions for the piece via email. His commentary went beyond what was expected, graciously detailing his time on the show and praising his co-stars and collaborators.

In the “Dawson’s” audition room, for example, Van Der Beek said his soon-to-be co-star Joshua Jackson “stood out because while other actors nervously went over their sides (myself included), he had the energy of a guy who was ready for a prize fight. I remember thinking, ‘THAT GUY is really interesting. If they cast him as Pacey, this is going to be really good.’”

James Van Der Beek, left, and Joshua Jackson in “Dawson’s Creek,” which would launch them to stardom.

(Fred Norris/The WB)

Van Der Beek likewise effused that, as a showrunner, Williamson “felt like a friend who was excited to go make a movie in his backyard. Even the way he ‘pitched’ storylines — it was never a pitch. It was a campfire story about people he cared about that he’d unfold in such a simple, compelling way that you couldn’t help but care about them too.”

Millennial viewers did care. A lot.

“Dawson’s Creek,” a simple drama about four friends growing up in a small, coastal town, quickly became a defining touchstone of Y2K culture, a major hit for the WB network — the series finale drew more than 7 million viewers — and a star-making machine for its four leads: Van Der Beek, Jackson, Katie Holmes and Michelle Williams.

The floppy-haired, often flannel-clad Van Der Beek wasn’t the show’s breakout heartthrob. (That honorific belonged to Jackson, who played Pacey, Dawson’s charming best friend and Joey’s end-game paramour.)

But as the title character and a partial avatar for Williamson — who had similarly spent his own teen years dreamily pining and aspiring to be a filmmaker — Dawson was the boy-next-door pillar around which the show orbited.

Yes, Dawson was whiny and moody and extremely self-centered, but so are a lot of teenagers. Through Van Der Beek’s wistful performance, viewers were given a window through which to grapple with betrayal, death, heartbreak and a litany of bad decisions.

For better or worse, Dawson served as an emotional, often cautionary, proxy for millennials’ own coming-of-age messiness.

In the years since the series ended in 2003, Dawson has largely been reduced to the “Dawson crying” meme: a Season 3 screenshot of Van Der Beek, face contorted in pain and on the verge of crying messy, heaving tears as Dawson tells Joey she should choose Pacey over him.

The emotional relationship between Joey and Dawson was core to the series.

(Fred Norris/The WB)

Van Der Beek later revealed that the tears weren’t scripted. So attuned had he become to his character’s sensitivity by that point that the emotions flowed naturally.

“I think at the heart of [Williamson’s] projects are characters that he himself cares about deeply — flaws and all,” Van Der Beek said in his email last year. “They’re authentic to their background, sincere according to their world view… and vulnerable.”

Van Der Beek was vulnerable, too. As his cancer progressed, he was open with fans about his health struggles and the early warning signs. He appeared via video at a “Dawson’s Creek” reunion event in New York City last September, the proceeds of which raised money for cancer awareness.

In Van Der Beek’s death, there is no real-world instrumental score or innate montage of his best moments to soften the blow, as would have happened with a character on “Dawson’s Creek” (though the internet will surely be awash in such fan-made edits).

But through his work on “Dawson’s,” a generation can take comfort in a starry-eyed boy on a dock in Capeside who once invited us into his messy, emotional world.