One day before the “Dawson’s Creek” reunion in his honor on September 22, 2025, James Van Der Beek shared that his health wouldn’t allow him to attend. “You can imagine how gutted I was when two stomach viruses conspired to knock me out of commission and keep me grounded at the worst possible moment,” he shared on Instagram. Fans of the ’90s classic show were disappointed. While he made a surprise video appearance, it just wasn’t the same for those who anticipated seeing the teen drama’s main star.

However, the viral infections likely had bigger implications for him than most people. Van Der Beek, a father of six, has been living with stage 3 colorectal cancer since August 2023, a diagnosis that redefined his whole life. “This year, I had to look at my own mortality in the eye,” he said in a March 2025 Instagram video. “I had to come nose-to-nose with death.” The cancer forced him to reevaluate life’s big questions about identity.

Whereas he previously saw himself as a father, husband, and actor, now he was a cancer patient. “All of those definitions that I cared so deeply about were stripped for me,” he shared. Van Der Beek went public with his diagnosis in November 2024, a year into his cancer journey. “I’ve been privately dealing with this diagnosis and have been taking steps to resolve it,” he told People. The devastating news changed his reality, making Van Der Beek’s life today nothing like his ‘Dawson’s Creek’ days. 

James Van Der Beek decided to speak out about his personal health issues in part because colorectal cancer is on the rise among young adults. “In the past, I’ve found it helpful and cathartic to share things publicly. … But more than that, I really wanted to raise awareness,” he told People. The “Dawson’s Creek” alum hoped his story would inspire others to stay on top of their health because he had no good reason to believe he was at risk. He was active, ate a healthy diet, and had no family history.

The only symptom he experienced was slight changes to his bowel movements in the summer of 2023. “I thought maybe I needed to stop coffee,” he said. “Or maybe not put cream in the coffee. But when I cut that out and it didn’t improve, I thought, ‘All right, I better get this checked out.'” Van Der Beek thought he was being proactive and never anticipated hearing the words out of the doctor’s mouth. “I think I went into shock,” he said.

The reality slowly sank in. Now, Van Der Beek is aware of what this diagnosis means in the long run. “I’m just on the journey. … It’s a process. It’ll probably be a process for the rest of my life,” he told Today in July 2025. He is coping thanks to the support of his family, and, surprisingly, work. “The greatest thing about work is cancer doesn’t exist between action and cut,” he said.