Following the news of James Van Der Beek’s death at age 48, “Dancing with the Stars” judge Derek Hough shared the late actor’s powerful message about what his yearslong battle with colon cancer taught him about faith and “God’s love.”
The actor’s wife, Kimberly Van Der Beek, confirmed his death in a social media post on Wednesday.
“My heart is heavy hearing about James’ passing. I immediately thought of this video he shared, it moved me to tears the first time I saw it, and it moves me even more now. I wanted to honor his memory by sharing,” “Dancing With The Stars” judge Derek Hough captioned a Wednesday Instagram post with the video, which has been viewed millions of times across social media over the past day.
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Hough described Van Der Beek as a “wise, thoughtful, loving man” and thanked the actor for sharing his light even in his “darkest moments.”
The post included a video originally posted by Van Der Beek in March 2025, when the father of six spoke about his battle with stage 3 colorectal cancer.
“Today’s my birthday, and it has been the hardest year of my life,” Van Der Beek started off in the video.
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“When I was younger, I used to define myself as an actor, which was never really all that fulfilling. And then I became a husband, and that was much better. And then I became a father, and that was the ultimate,” he said. “I could define myself then as a loving, capable, strong, supportive husband, father, provider, steward of the land that we’re so lucky to live on. And for a long time, that felt like a really good definition to the question, ‘Who am I? What am I?’ And then this year, I had to look my own mortality in the eye. I had to come nose to nose with death.”
He noted that “all of those definitions” he cared so deeply about were “stripped away” from him as he began his cancer treatment and that he could no longer provide for his family in the same way he did before his cancer diagnosis.
“As I move through this healing portal toward recovery, I wanted to share that with you because I think that revelation that came to me was due in no small part to all the prayers and the love that had been directed toward me. So I offer that to you, however it sits in your consciousness, however it resonates—run with it,” VanDer Beek continued. “And so I was faced with the question: ‘If I am just a too-skinny, weak guy alone in an apartment with cancer, what am I?’”
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The actor said he “meditated and the answer came through” to him: “I am worthy of God’s love, simply because I exist. And if I’m worthy of God’s love, shouldn’t I also be worthy of my own? And the same is true for you.”
Van Der Beek continued, telling his followers, “And if the word ‘God’ trips you up, I certainly don’t know, I can’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, it feels too religious, you can take the word ‘God’ out and your mantra can simply be, ‘I am worthy of love.’ Because you are.”
Podcaster Patrick Bet-David shared the video, saying on X, “An incredible message from a man who has now met his Maker.”
Emmy-winning daytime actor Eric Martsolf posted, “These words. Bless his heart.”
