James Van Der Beek Celebrates Father’s Day With an Emotional Tribute to His Children

James Van Der Beek is thanking his children this Father’s Day amid his battle with colorectal cancer.

“Being a father has been the most treasured honor of my life,” the Dawson’s Creek alum, 48, wrote on Instagram Sunday alongside photos with his six kids. “Thank you to my kids for re-teaching me how to live, laugh, love, and show up in my own life and in the world.”

Van Der Beek made sure to credit his wife, Kimberly, 43, as he continued with his heartfelt message. “And thank you to my super hero of a wife @vanderkimberly who constantly exceeds the boundaries of what I thought was human capacity,” he wrote. “I love you all with all my heart.”

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The Varsity Blues actor shares daughters Olivia, 14, Annabel, 11, Emilia, 9, Gwendolyn, 7, and sons Joshua, 13, and Jeremiah, 3, with his wife, whom he married in 2010.

Van Der Beek announced in November 2024 that he had been diagnosed with colorectal cancer. “I’ve been privately dealing with this diagnosis and have been taking steps to resolve it, with the support of my incredible family,” he told PEOPLE at the time. “There’s reason for optimism, and I’m feeling good.”

Van Der Beek has kept the details of his treatment largely private, but in March, he told Extra he was feeling optimistic. “I feel like I can see the finish line… I’m in a healing phase, which is great,” he said. “I’m going back to work next month. I’m taking this month really to just kind of relax.”

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Earlier that month, Van Der Beek confessed in an Instagram video that the past year had been the “hardest” of his life. “This year, I had to look my own mortality in the eye. I came nose to nose with death,” he said at the time. “All of those definitions that I cared so deeply about were stripped from me. I was away for treatment, so I could no longer be a husband who was helpful to my wife. I could no longer be a father who could pick up his kids and put them to bed and be there for them.”

“So I was faced with the question that if I was just here to be a too-skinny, weak guy, alone, in an apartment with cancer, what am I?” he continued. After meditating, however, Van Der Beek received his answer. “I am worthy of God’s love, simply because I exist,” he said. “And if I’m worthy of God’s love, shouldn’t I be worthy of my own?”