How James Van Der Beek's Kids Reacted to His Cancer Diagnosis
James Van Der Beek has sadly passed away.
Prior to his death on Wednesday (February 11), he opened up about how he told his wife Kimberly and their six children — daughters Gwen, 7, Annabel, 12, Emilia, 9, and Olivia, 15, and sons Jeremiah, 4, and Joshua, 13 – about his stage three colorectal cancer diagnosis.
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“I like to take care of everybody. I’m a provider, and I was trying to be Superman and be all things to everybody,” he told People in 2024.
“I was also a water pump expert. The holiday decorations foreman. I’m an empath, and telling people required a lot of energy.”
While he said he wanted “to shield” his children from the news, he had no choice.
“And then my kids, as much as I want to shield them from seeing me in any kind of pain or stress — I wanted to be Superman, Super Dad — you realize that resilience is not only something that they have and can build, but it’s the best thing for them,” he said.
“Listen, I’m never the person who asked for any help ever. It’s not in my DNA, and I thought that was a fine way to be until this showed up. And to see that way friends showed up was such a beautiful experience, and I never would have otherwise seen just how much people care about me,” he added at the time of feeling support.
“They’re scared. It’s natural. But they’ve been so supportive and loving and tender,” he went on to tell People, joking “One thing I’ve asked every doctor is, ‘What are the odds, and be straight with me, that I can get my kids to stop calling it butt cancer?’”
In 2025, he continued getting candid about telling his kids the news.
“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,” he said on Today in July.
“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 this journey, which is why I’m saying get screened.”
Tributes are pouring out following the passing of James Van Der Beek.