Inside James Van Der Beek and Wife Kimberly’s Enduring Love Story

James Van Der Beek, ‘Dawson’s Creek’ Actor, Dead at 48 After Cancer Battle

And then there's the tale of how he met the Joey to his Dawson during a 2010 trip to Israel following his divorce from first wife Heather McComb.

"I was done being single," the Varsity Blues star recalled on Instagram 10 years later. "I wanted a real relationship. A soul mate. Someone with whom I could build a family. I was mid-revelation, rattling all this off to a friend of mine when a voice interrupted us, wanting to ask him a question. I was annoyed. Who the hell was stepping all over my moment?"

Turns out, it was the very person he’d been searching for.

"Three days later, I asked her what she was looking for in a relationship. Her answer: 'I’m not looking for a relationship,'" he continued. "Six months later we were living together."

Soon after, Kimberly and James found out they were expecting daughter Olivia.

"Do you want some TMI?" Kimberly told People in 2024. "I got pregnant with Olivia two days after moving in with him. So that was six months into our relationship. I was seven months pregnant when we got married."

The wedding took place on Aug. 1, 2010, with Olivia arriving less than two months later. She was then joined by Joshua, 13; Annabelle, 12; Emilia, 9 and Gwendolyn, 7. However, Kimberly and James' journey wasn’t without heartache as she suffered five miscarriages.

"I had Olivia and Joshua, then I had a miscarriage,” she shared on The Make Down Podcast in 2020. "Then I had Annabelle, another miscarriage. Then I had Emilia, another miscarriage, Gwendolyn, two miscarriages.”

The last two were late-term miscarriages, with one occurring while James was competing on season 28 of Dancing With the Stars in 2019 and the other occurring in the summer of 2020.

Afterwards, the family decided to start a new chapter by moving from California to Texas.

"We needed a change of scene," Kimberly told City Lifestyle in 2021, "we needed to be immersed in nature, we needed to heal our bodies, our hearts, our spirits."

Then in October 2021, she and James revealed they’d privately welcomed now-4-year-old son Jeremiah."We weren’t trying for more kids," James wrote on Instagram in 2022. "We were done. But fortunately, this chunky little angel knew better. And when I hold him, I’m reminded of the benevolent forces out there likely laughing at my agenda and waiting for me to toss my 'clarity' for an upgraded reality.  Thank god for surprises… and thank god we SUCK at not getting pregnant."

But the family got a surprise no one wants to hear when James was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer in August 2023. 

"I really didn’t feel like this was gonna end me," he told People while publicly sharing his diagnosis in November 2024 to help raise awareness for early detection. "I really felt like this is gonna be the biggest life redirect. I’m gonna make changes that I never would have made otherwise—that I’m gonna look back on in a year, five years, 30 years from now and say, 'Thank God that happened.' And that’s how I was about 90 percent of the time. And then 10 percent of the time I was a sobbing, terrified mess."

Through it all, James was able to lean on Kimberly.

"She’s been amazing," he told Good Morning America the following month. "She’s really taught me what unconditional love is."

And as James continued his fight against cancer, he knew he wouldn't ever have to wait on her support.

"There are no words for how much I love and appreciate you," he wrote to his bride in his August anniversary post. "I could not do this without you."

As his family prepares to move forward without him, look back on a life well-lived.