Watch: James Van Der Beek’s Wife Kimberly Says He Parents “From the Other Side”
James Van Der Beek‘s family is feeling his love from afar.
Four months after the Dawson’s Creek alum died at 48, his wife Kimberly Van Der Beek shared a touching tribute to the late star on the first Father’s Day since his death.
“Missing you so much and thinking of how magnificent you were in every single way today,” she wrote in a June 21 Instagram post. “And somehow, from the other side? You continue to parent. You’re a marvel.”
In her post, Kimberly—who welcomed kids Olivia, 15, Joshua, 13, Annabel, 12, Emilia, 9, Gwendolyn, 7, and Jeremiah, 4, during her marriage to James—shared a carousel of sweet family photos of the Varsity Blues actor with his children from over the years.
Since James’ death in February after a nearly three-year battle with colorectal cancer, Kimberly continues to be open about the family’s grief journey, including how they’re keeping the Elle star’s memory alive.
In fact, the couple’s daughter Emilia shared that she speaks with her father every day.
“The number one thing for somebody’s passing is to talk to them and let your emotions out,” Emilia said in a video shared to Kimberly’s Instagram page March 8. “If you miss them, you can cry. You can talk to them. I talk to my dad every day, and 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.’ And I just tell him about my day, how I’m feeling, and I tell my family how I’m feeling.”
She continued, “I know he can hear me, but I can’t hear him. My mom can. And you just you have to feel them in your heart, because they’re in your heart. They’re watching. They’re a part of your body and in a good place.”
And Kimberly and the Van Der Beek family made sure to celebrate James on what would have been his 49th birthday on March 8.
“Would be your 49th birthday today,” Kimberly wrote over a picture of her and James on Instagram Stories at the time. “And I’m missing you tremendously.”
Instagram/Kimberly Van Der Beek
Prior to his death, James—who went public with his colorectal cancer diagnosis in 2024—reflected on his fatherhood journey, sharing that it’s what made him the “happiest” in his life.
“What you genuinely want is to take care of them, to make them feel safe, to keep them safe, to connect with them and feel that joy,” he told Good Morning America in 2023. “Your life becomes shared and your joys become shared joys, and in a really beautiful way, that expands your level of circuitry out to other people instead of just keeping it all for your own gratification.”
Read on for a look back at James’ sweet moments with Kimberly and their kids.
Instagram/James Van Der Beek
Instagram/James Van Der Beek
Instagram/James Van Der Beek
Instagram/James Van Der Beek
Instagram/James Van Der Beek
Instagram/James Van Der Beek
Instagram/James Van Der Beek
Instagram/James Van Der Beek
Instagram/James Van Der Beek
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