James Van Der Beek was “as honest as possible” with his children about his cancer diagnosis because he didn’t want to “confuse” them when they could see he was having a “tough” time.
James Van Der Beek was “as honest as possible” with his children about his cancer diagnosis because he didn’t want to “confuse” them.
The former Dawson’s Creek star – who has Olivia, 14, Joshua, 13, Annabel, 11, Emilia, nine, Gwendolyn, six, and Jeremiah, two, with wife Kimberly – was diagnosed with stage 3 colo-rectal cancer last year and didn’t want to hide the news from his broos because “they know” when he’s not doing well.
Speaking on Today, he said: “I’m far from an expert, but our approach was just to be as honest as possible, as honest to the degree of their understanding, right? Because they know.
“They can sense that Dad’s having a tough day.
“They know if Dad’s in pain. They know, and so by not telling them, I think you’re confusing them even more.”
James has found “a lot of beauty” in his health struggles because of the way his kids have responded.
He said: “I have kids making me tea. ‘Dad, what do you need?’ There’s been a lot of beauty that’s come out of it, but I would love to save everybody this journey, which is why I’m saying get screened.”
The 48-year-old actor advised other parents in a similar situation to share the news with their children as they will be surprised by the resilience of youngsters.
He said: “When you tell them what you’re doing, and you tell them the approach, they can see it and they can feel it, and I think it’s also your journey is their journey.”
At the moment, James is “feeling great” but views battling the disease as a “full-time job”.
He said: “Today, I’m feeling great, yeah. It’s been a journey. There are just so many ups and downs and so many unknowns. Cancer is – I call it a full-time job.”
James has made a number of changes to his life, including practicing yoga and trying the keto diet and has learned to slow down.
He told Today.com: “[I’ve been finding] the beauty of just taking things a little bit more slowly and prioritizing rest and really allowing that to be the job,” he tells TODAY.com.
And he is happy he has continued to work, with a role in upcoming TV series Elle.
He said: “The greatest thing about work is a cancer doesn’t exist between action and cut.
“It was fun to drop in and just have a blast because it’s such a great cast, a great production, and everybody out there is really talented.”
James Van Der Beek was candid with kids over cancer battle
