Christian celebrities react to James Van Der Beek’s death at 48 after Stage 3 cancer diagnosis

Christian celebrities, from Candace Cameron Bure to Danica McKellar, shared their heartbreak this week after “Dawson’s Creek” star James Van Der Beek died at age 48 following a battle with Stage 3 colorectal cancer.

Van Der Beek, best known for his role as aspiring filmmaker Dawson Leery on the late-1990s teen drama “Dawson’s Creek,” first revealed his Stage 3 colon cancer diagnosis in November 2024. His family confirmed on Wednesday that he had died peacefully.

“Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning,” his family wrote in a statement shared to Instagram. “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 is survived by his wife, Kimberly, and their six children, Olivia, 14, Joshua, 13, Annabel, 11, Emilia, 8, Gwendolyn, 6, and Jeremiah, 2.

On Instagram, Bure, known for her role on “Full House,” shared a photo of Van Der Beek accompanied by broken heart emojis.

Christian actress McKellar, who starred in “The Wonder Years,” said she was “gutted” by the news.

“If you have a moment, watch this post from last year. It’s his last gift he has given to us all,” McKellar wrote, linking to a 2025 video in which Van Der Beek reflected on how his faith sustained him during the most difficult season of his life.

Actress Leigh-Allyn Baker, known for “Good Luck Charlie” and her outspoken Christian faith, urged followers to pray for the grieving family and shared a link to a GoFundMe campaign that had raised more than $1.4 million as of Thursday morning.

Van Der Beek began acting as a teenager in Cheshire, Connecticut, after a football injury sidelined him and led him to audition for a school production of “Grease.” 

His breakthrough came at 21, when he was cast as 15-year-old Dawson Leery on “Dawson’s Creek.” The coming-of-age series ran for six seasons and drew millions of weekly viewers. The series also launched the careers of co-stars Katie Holmes, Joshua Jackson and Michelle Williams.

Van Der Beek went on to star in the 1999 football drama “Varsity Blues” and later appeared in films including “The Rules of Attraction.” 

In November 2024, when he publicly disclosed his diagnosis, Van Der Beek wrote that he had been privately navigating the illness with the support of his family. “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,” he told People at the time, adding, “There’s reason for optimism, and I’m feeling good.”

In a March 8 Instagram video titled “What cancer taught me,” posted as he entered his 48th year, the actor spoke candidly about how the disease stripped away the identities he once relied on.

“Today’s my birthday and it has been the hardest year of my life,” Van Der Beek began. “When I was younger, I used to define myself as an actor, which was never all that fulfilling, and then I became a husband, it was much better, and then I became a father. That was the ultimate.”

During treatment, Van De Beek said he was forced to “look my own mortality in the eye.”

“I had to come nose to nose with death,” he remarked. “And all those definitions that I cared so deeply about were stripped from me.”

“I was away for treatment, so I could no longer be a husband who was helpful to my wife,” Van Der Beek continued. “I could no longer be a father who could pick up his kids and put them to bed and be there for them. I could not be a provider because I wasn’t working.”

At his lowest point, he questioned whether he was “just a too-skinny, weak guy, alone in an apartment with cancer … what am I?”

It was then, he said, that he leaned more fully into faith.

“I am worthy of God’s love simply because I exist,” he shared. “And if I’m worthy of God’s love, shouldn’t I also be worthy of my own?”

“As I move through this healing portal toward recovery,” Van Der Beek said, “I wanted to share that with you because that revelation that came to me was in no small part to all the prayers and the love that had been directed toward me.”

“I certainly don’t claim to know what God is or explain God, my efforts to connect to God are an ongoing process that is a constant unfolding mystery to me.”

“But, if it’s a trigger that feels too religious, you can take the word God out of your mantra and it can simply be ‘I am worthy of love.’ Because you are.”

Even as his health declined, Van Der Beek remained connected to the project that made him famous, NPR noted.

In September 2025, much of the “Dawson’s Creek” cast reunited at a Broadway theater in New York City for a live reading of the pilot episode to raise funds for the nonprofit F Cancer, which focuses on prevention, detection and support for those affected by the disease.

Organized by Williams, the reunion featured an emotional video message from Van Der Beek, who was too ill to attend in person. In the recorded clip, he thanked his castmates, crew and fans for being “the best fans in the world.”

In one of his final public reflections, Van Der Beek acknowledged the staggering global impact of cancer, noting that millions of new diagnoses occur each year. “Each year,” he wrote in 2024, “approximately 2 billion people around the world receive this diagnosis. … I am one of them.”