James Van Der Beek with his wife, Kimberly Van Der Beek, last year.
Credit...Rick Kern/Getty Images for Hilarity for Charity

Dawson’s Creek Star James Van Der Beek Says He Has Colorectal Cancer

Mr. Van Der Beek, who played Dawson Leery in the ’90s drama, told People Magazine that he was being treated for colorectal cancer.

by · NY Times

James Van Der Beek, who starred in the 1990s teen television drama “Dawson’s Creek,” said on Sunday that he had been diagnosed with colorectal cancer.

“I’ve been dealing with this privately until now, getting treatment and dialing in my overall health with greater focus than ever before,” Mr. Van Der Beek, 47, said in a post on Instagram. “I’m in a good place and feeling strong.”

In an interview with People Magazine, Mr. Van Der Beek said that he had colorectal cancer, which develops in the tissue of the colon or rectum. About 1 in 23 men are diagnosed with colorectal cancer in their lifetimes, according to the American Cancer Society. Women have a similar rate of risk.

A household heartthrob who starred in 2000s coming-of-age dramas, Mr. Van Der Beek shot to fame playing Dawson Leery, the titular character in “Dawson’s Creek,” which ran from 1998 to 2003 on the WB Network. He went on to star in Paramount’s “Varsity Blues,” the 1999 cult classic about a high school football team. Mr. Van Der Beek starred as Jonathan Moxton, or Mox, an academically gifted quarterback torn between sports and school.

Those roles fueled a meteoric rise for Mr. Van Der Beek, who once spoke of being mobbed by throngs of screaming teenage girls just weeks after he signed his first autograph. He was among the last generation of young celebrities to find fame before iPhones, when the fodder of fandom was still largely autographs or disposable camera photos.

“Back then you were signing some ticket stub or receipt or page of a book that somebody ripped out after scrambling for a pen,” he told Vulture in 2013. “In 1998, nobody had cameras on their cellphones. So if somebody was taking a picture of you, or a video of you, you knew it.”

Mr. Van Der Beek attended Drew University in Madison, N.J., on an academic scholarship before dropping out to pursue “Dawson’s Creek” full time. His filmography includes some of the biggest TV drama hits of the 2000s, with appearances in “Ugly Betty,” “One Tree Hill” and “How I Met Your Mother.”

Though professionally quiet since the pandemic, Mr. Van Der Beek has taken on more unique roles in recent years, including as Wesley “Diplo” Pentz, a dull but likable music producer in the critically acclaimed mockumentary satire, “What Would Diplo Do?” In 2019, he made it to the semifinals of ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars.”

Later this year, Mr. Van Der Beek is set to appear in “The Real Full Monty,” a television special in which a group of male celebrities will strip down to raise awareness for prostate, testicular, and colorectal cancer testing and research.

Ali Watkins contributed reporting.

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