From Capeside, Massachusetts to Springwood, Texas, James Van Der Beek has a thing for small towns.
The actor rose to fame as the face of the idyllic, fictional Capeside in Dawson's Creek. Twenty years later, he and his family live world's away from that seaside New England location, on a ranch south of Austin in the Lone Star State.
In Austin, Van Der Beek, now 47, regularly shares updates from his home with wife Kimberly Brook and their six children: daughters Olivia, Annabel, Emilia, Gwendolyn, and sons Joshua and Jeremiah.
While the family have lived there happily for years, the actor recently opened up about a more difficult journey he's currently on.
Der Beek shared that he's been diagnosed with colorectal cancer, which is a type of cancer that affects the colon or the rectum.
"I have colorectal cancer. I've been privately dealing with this diagnosis and have been taking steps to resolve it, with the support of my incredible family," the actor confirmed to PEOPLE.
"There's reason for optimism, and I'm feeling good."
Soon after talking to the magazine, he took to his own social media to share the story, and also call out other tabloid titles that reported it before he could open up.
"There's no playbook for how announce these things, but I'd planned on talking about it at length with People magazine at some point soon… to raise awareness and tell my story on my own terms," he said.
"But that plan had to be altered early this morning when I was informed that a tabloid was going to run with the news."
He added, "I've been dealing with this privately until now, getting treatment and dialing in my overall health with greater focus than ever before. I'm in a good place and feeling strong. It's been quite the initiation, and I'll tell you more when I'm ready."
The '90s star is taking the diagnosis in his stride. In December, he's set to star in the two-hour special The Real Full Monty, where the likes of Van Der Beek, Taye Diggs and other male celebrities will strip down to raise awareness for prostate, testicular, and colorectal cancer testing and research.
This is a rare TV appearance for an actor who has shied away from the spotlight in more recent years.
In September 2020, the Van Der Beek family moved from their home in Los Angeles to Texas.
"We wanted to get the kids out of Los Angeles. We wanted to give them space and we wanted them to live in nature," he explained to Austin Lifestyle.
"It's expansive and nature will hug you and heal you," Brook added, sharing that the couple had experienced two miscarriages at 17 weeks in 2019 and 2020, and felt like the relocation would be healing.
He has spoken at length about fatherhood over the years, and regularly muses on his learnings, mistakes and observations on his socials.
"I think fatherhood changes you from the inside out," he told People in 2020. "It's not this thing where you think, 'Oh, I have to be responsible, I have to take more on.' You just want to, almost automatically."
Since playing Dawson Leery in Dawson's Creek, Van Der Beek made a career in television, film and multiple-episode arcs in shows like How I Met Your Mother and One Tree Hill.
He had a main role in cult comedy Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 and in 2019, placed fifth in the 28th season of Dancing with the Stars.
His move to Texas didn't need to impact his career, but it did.
"Living in Texas, I've been offered basically everything that I thought I really wanted before, and I just haven't had it in me to say yes, to leave where we're at," Van Der Beek told Good Morning America in May 2023.
"But I think it's time. My big thing is that my kids come with me, so we'll all go wherever we're going and figure it out."
This means Van Der Beek has had a break from acting, but he's still tuned into what's going on in Hollywood.
He shared a video on social media in solidarity with the writers and actors strikes while on a family holiday.
Recently, Van Der Beek came under fire for comments he made in a TikTok video about the Democratic National Committee's decision to unanimously back US President Joe Biden for re-election and not hold a preliminary debate.
"This guy has obviously declining mental faculties, you’re putting him up in front of a podium with flash cards telling him who to call on and what the questions are gonna be, and you’re telling us there’s no debate? What about the will of the people?"
Before long, the video was picked up by conservative media and praised by right-wing pundits.
"I watched this video and I was like, 'this guy deserves to be sitting on a panel analyzing everything that’s going on right now,'" political commentator Clay Travis said.
Van Der Beek has in the past said he doesn't "often get political" publicly, but in 2016 shared a critical article about Donald Trump.
In January 2022, Rolling Stone documented his wife's history of anti-vax content.
Feature image: The CW/Instagram.
This article was originally published on July 24, 2023 and has since been updated with new information.
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