March 9, 2026, 8:58 a.m. ET
James Van Der Beek’s daughter is sharing a heartfelt tribute to him.
In a video shared to Instagram on March 8 by the late “Dawson’s Creek” star’s wife, Kimberly, the pair’s daughter Emilia, said she wanted to share “tips” for others to get “through anybody you love passing.” Van Der Beek died Feb. 11 at the age of 48 following a public battle with colorectal cancer.
“So today is my dad’s birthday, and the number one thing for somebody’s passing is to talk to them and let your emotions out,” Emilia said in the social media video. “If you miss them, you can cry. You can talk to them. I talk to my dad every day. I start with a sentence, and I say, ‘Hi, Dad. I miss you and I love you so much, and I’ll never stop loving you.’ “
“I just tell him about my day, how I’m feeling, and I told my family how I’m feeling. And I know he can hear me, but I can’t hear him,” she continued. Emilia is one of six children the actor leaves behind. He and his wife, Kimberly Brook, whom he married in 2010, share six children, ages 4 to 15 years old.
Emilia, born in 2016, went on to say in the video: “You have to feel them in your heart, because they’re in your heart. They’re watching over you. They’re a part of your body and in a good place. I know that my dad’s in a good place. He’s not in pain anymore. He’s in heaven above the clouds with God and the Lord.”
“Don’t blame yourself,” she added. “Blaming yourself, it’s not a good strategy for someone’s passing…Everybody has different emotions in their body, and they express it in different ways.” Alongside the video, Kimberly wrote in the caption that her daughter had asked her to post it.
“Everything is meant to happen for a reason,” said Emilia, who was wearing her father’s hat in the video, continued. “Something my dad told me was if this doesn’t work out the way he wanted it to and the way we wanted it to for him living, I still have to believe in miracles. Miracles can still happen, just later on in life, and they’ll keep coming.”
“I know that he was a good man. A lot of people loved him, and people prayed for him, and he was loved by … many, many people,” she said.
Van Der Beek, known for his roles in “Dawson’s” and “Varsity Blues,” was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer in August 2023 and opened up about his illness publicly in November 2024.
“Having been in the public eye as long as I have, as soon as this happened, I thought, ‘You know what? There’s going to be a purpose to this. I think by sharing this, I can do some good,” Van Der Beek said on “Good Morning America” in December 2024. “As amazing and cathartic as this year has been, it’s been really tough. So if I can spare anybody the experience of my last year, I would definitely want to do that.”
A GoFundMe, organized by a friend named Jason and verified by USA TODAY, has raised more than $2.7 million for his family.
