‘Dancing With The Stars’: James Van Der Beek Reveals Wife Kimberly Brook Suffered Miscarriage

Former Dawson’s Creek star James Van Der Beek revealed on Monday’s Dancing With The Stars that his wife, Kimberly Brook, suffered a miscarriage on Saturday. The actor announced they were expecting a sixth child on the show early last month. Sadly, this was the fourth miscarriage the couple have experienced.

“My wife Kimberly and I went through every expectant parents’ worst nightmare,” Van Der Beek explained in the introductory video to his second dance of the night. “We lost the baby. The little soul that we had expected to welcome into our family took a shortcut to whatever lies beyond.”

Through tears, Van Der Beek continued, “You never know why these things happen… Still have to tell my kids. All you know is that it brings you closer together. It breaks you open. It opens up your heart. It deepens your appreciation. It makes you more human.”

Van Der Beek said he did not think he would appear on the show, but Kimberly called him up to tell him to go through with it. “Kimberly, I love you,” he said.

Van Der Beek and his pro dance partner, Emma Slater, then danced a Foxtrot to Hozier’s “Take Me To Church.”

Following the performance, judges Len Goodman, Carrie Ann Inaba and Bruno Tonioli praised their performance and offered their condolences.

“I don’t know how you got through that,” Inaba said through tears. “I feel silly trying to talk about your posture, but what I really do appreciate is in the midst of that and the human tragedy you’re going through, you pulled up and gave me great posture.

After the dance, Erin Andrews let Van Der Beek speak directly to Kimberly.

“Kimberly, I love you. Thank you,” he said. “Thank you for pushing me on to the dance floor. Thank you for everything you do and I don’t know how you do it. Five kids. You’re amazing. Thank you.”

During the Oct. 7 episode, Van Der Beek announced he and Kimberly were expecting again. In an emotional message on his Instagram page at the time, Van Der Beek opened up about the family’s experiences with miscarriages.

“Miscarriage (a word that needs a replacement – nobody failed to ‘carry’, these things sometimes just happen) is something that people rarely talk about, and often go through in secret,” he wrote at the time. “But there needs to be zero shame around it, or around giving yourself the time and space to grieve. We decided to put ourselves out there – not knowing what we’d find – in an effort to chip away at any senseless stigma around this experience and to encourage people who might be going through it to open themselves up to love & support from friends and family when they need it most. Happily, for us – this time- we walked out with tears of joy.”

Van Der Beek and Kimberly are parents to daughters Olivia, 9, Emilia, 3, Annabel Leah, 5, and son Joshua, 7.

Dancing With The Stars airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. Although Van Der Beek’s second performance on the night was almost perfect, he was not saved by the judges and was eliminated.

Photo credit: Getty Images