<\/p>\n
James Van Der Beek\u2019s<\/strong> wife, Kimberly Van Der Beek<\/strong><\/a>, mourned his friend Eric Dane<\/a><\/strong> after the actors died within one week of each other.<\/p>\n Kimberly, 43, shared a throwback photo via her Instagram Story on Saturday<\/a>, February 21. In the picture, she and James posed alongside Dane, his wife, Rebecca Gayheart<\/a><\/strong>, and the pair\u2019s daughters, Billie and Georgia, on the red carpet at the Chrysalis Butterfly Ball in Los Angeles in June 2017.<\/p>\n \u201cRIP @realericdane,\u201d Kimberly wrote. \u201cWe love you @rebeccagayheartdane.\u201d<\/p>\n Kimberly then reflected on James\u2019 friendship<\/a> with Dane prior to their deaths as she addressed Gayheart, 54.<\/p>\n \ud83c\udfac <\/strong>SIGN UP for Parade’s Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox<\/strong><\/a> \ud83c\udfac<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWill miss our guys laughing at Christmas parties together,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Gayheart later reposted Kimberly’s message, responding, “So much love for you.”<\/p>\n James died on February 11<\/a> after being diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2023. The Dawson\u2019s Creek<\/em> alum was 48.<\/p>\n \u201cOur beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning,\u201d Kimberly said in a statement shared via Instagram on the day of his death. \u201cHe met his final days<\/a> 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. For now we ask for peaceful privacy as we grieve our loving husband, father, son<\/a>, brother and friend.\u201d<\/p>\n James and Kimberly had been married since August 2010 and renewed their wedding vows<\/a> shortly before his death. The couple shared six children<\/a>: Olivia, 15, Joshua, 13, Annabel, 12, Emilia, 9, Gwendolyn, 7, and Jeremiah, 4.<\/p>\n Eight days after James\u2019 death, Dane died<\/a> on Thursday<\/a>, February 19, at age 53. The Grey\u2019s Anatomy alum<\/em> had announced his ALS diagnosis less than one year earlier in April 2025.<\/p>\n \u201cWith heavy hearts, we share that Eric Dane passed on Thursday afternoon following a courageous battle with ALS,\u201d his family said in a statement to Parade<\/em> at the time. \u201cHe spent his final days surrounded by dear friends, his devoted wife and his two beautiful daughters, Billie and Georgia, who were the center of his world.\u201d<\/p>\n The statement continued: \u201cThroughout his journey with ALS, Eric became a passionate advocate for awareness and research, determined to make a difference for others facing the same fight. He will be deeply missed and lovingly remembered always. Eric adored his fans and is forever grateful for the outpouring of love and support he\u2019s received. The family has asked for privacy as they navigate this impossible time.\u201d<\/p>\n Dane and Gayheart\u2014whose daughters Billie and Georgia<\/a> are now 15 and 14, respectively\u2014separated in 2018 after 13 years of marriage. However, she withdrew her divorce filing<\/a> in March 2025 amid his health battle. That November<\/a>, Gayheart explained on the \u201cBroad Ideas\u201d podcast that she wanted to teach her kids how to be there for their family even \u201cwhen times are at their worst.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe tell them, \u2018We show up for people no matter what. He is our family. He is your father,\u2019\u201d she elaborated. \u201cWe will get through it the best we can.\u201d<\/p>\n This story was originally published by Parade<\/a> on Feb 21, 2026, where it first appeared in the News<\/a> section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.aol.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" James Van Der Beek\u2019s wife, Kimberly Van Der Beek, mourned his friend Eric Dane after the actors died within one week of each other. Kimberly, 43, shared a throwback photo via her Instagram Story on Saturday, February 21. In the picture, she and James posed alongside Dane, his wife, Rebecca Gayheart, and the pair\u2019s daughters, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2293551,"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":[367407,444392,350582,323338],"class_list":["post-2293550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrities","tag-eric-dane","tag-james-david-van-der-beek","tag-james-van-der-beek","tag-rebecca-gayheart"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Kimberly-Van-Der-Beek-Remembers-James-Van-Der-Beek-and.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2293550","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=2293550"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2293550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2293552,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2293550\/revisions\/2293552"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2293551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2293550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2293550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2293550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}