{"id":2279402,"date":"2026-02-12T20:37:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T20:37:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2279402"},"modified":"2026-02-12T20:37:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T20:37:29","slug":"james-van-der-beek-was-writing-memoir-before-cancer-death-at-48","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/james-van-der-beek-was-writing-memoir-before-cancer-death-at-48\/","title":{"rendered":"James Van Der Beek was writing memoir before cancer death at 48"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>James Van Der Beek was reportedly writing his memoir before his tragic death. <\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/2026\/02\/james-van-der-beeks-final-projects-elle-memoir-1236716519\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sources told Deadline<\/a> on Wednesday the \u201cDawson\u2019s Creek\u201d alum was quietly writing a book about his life while he battled colorectal cancer. <\/p>\n<p>The actor was said to have worked on the book while juggling his final acting projects, which included the \u201cLegally Blonde\u201d prequel series \u201cElle,\u201d Prime Video\u2019s \u201cOvercompensating,\u201d and his appearances on Fox\u2019s \u201cThe Masked Singer.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>James Van Der Beek was reportedly working on a memoir before his tragic death, according to sources.  <span class=\"credit\">\u00a9Columbia Tristar\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Insiders said the actor worked on the memoir while juggling his final acting roles.  <span class=\"credit\">WireImage<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>It remains unknown at this time how far along he managed to get in his writing or if there are plans to publish the memoir posthumously. <\/p>\n<p>A rep for Van Der Beek did not immediately respond to Page Six\u2019s request for comment. <\/p>\n<p>Van Der Beek died on Wednesday at 48 years old following his nearly 3-year battle with cancer. His family announced his passing in an Instagram statement, promising to share more of the actor\u2019s final wishes in the near future. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning,\u201d<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/parents\/meet-james-van-der-beeks-6-kids-with-wife-kimberly\/\">\u00a0his wife, Kimberly Van Der Beek<\/a>, shared\u00a0via a joint Instagram statement\u00a0Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe met his final days with courage, faith and grace. There is much to share regarding his wishes, love for humanity and the sacredness of time. Those days will come.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>It\u2019s unclear how far along he managed to get in his writing before his death.  <span class=\"credit\">\u00a9Paramount\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Van Der Beek died on Wednesday at age 48 following a nearly 3-year battle with colorectal cancer.  <span class=\"credit\">FilmMagic<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The \u201cVarsity Blues\u201d star had been\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2024\/11\/03\/celebrity-news\/james-van-der-beek-diagnosed-with-colorectal-cancer\/\">battling Stage 3 cancer<\/a> since August 2023.<\/p>\n<p>He was\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2024\/11\/03\/celebrity-news\/why-james-van-der-beek-was-forced-to-reveal-his-cancer-diagnosis-early\/\">forced to reveal his diagnosis\u00a0<\/a>over a year later after learning \u201ca tabloid was going to run with the news,\u201d he told People In November 2024.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been dealing with this privately until now, getting treatment and dialing in my overall health with greater focus than ever before,\u201d\u00a0Van Der Beek added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m in a good place and feeling strong. It\u2019s been quite the initiation, and I\u2019ll tell you more when I\u2019m ready.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The father of six was diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer in August 2023. <span class=\"credit\">vanderjames\/Instagram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>He shared his diagnosis with the public in November 2024 after learning that a tabloid planned to run the news. <span class=\"credit\">ABC<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>He later admitted that cancer treatment had put a financial strain on his family and\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2024\/11\/30\/celebrity-news\/james-van-der-beek-selling-varsity-blues-merch-to-help-pay-for-cancer-treatment\/\">began selling autographed \u201cVarsity Blues\u201d merch<\/a>\u00a0to help fund his care.<\/p>\n<p>Van Der Beek auctioned off his character Jonathon \u201cMox\u201d Moxon\u2019s cleats and hat.<\/p>\n<p>He also sold\u00a0<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.com\/GMA\/Culture\/james-van-der-beek-auctioning-off-dawsons-creek\/story\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">memorabilia from \u201cDawson\u2019s Creek\u201d<\/a>, including his character Dawson Leery\u2019s clothing and bedroom decor.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source pagesix.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>James Van Der Beek was reportedly writing his memoir before his tragic death. Sources told Deadline on Wednesday the \u201cDawson\u2019s Creek\u201d alum was quietly writing a book about his life while he battled colorectal cancer. The actor was said to have worked on the book while juggling his final acting projects, which included the \u201cLegally [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2279403,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25177],"tags":[25538,23383,22062,347142,357888,24003,350582,21912,21913],"class_list":["post-2279402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrities","tag-actors","tag-cancer","tag-celebrity-deaths","tag-celebrity-illnesses","tag-celebrity-memoirs","tag-celebrity-news","tag-james-van-der-beek","tag-movies","tag-tv"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/James-Van-Der-Beek-was-writing-memoir-before-cancer-death.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2279402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2279402"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2279402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2279404,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2279402\/revisions\/2279404"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2279403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2279402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2279402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2279402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}