James Van Der Beek has opened up about new details regarding his health a month after going public with his Stage 3 colorectal cancer.
The Dawson’s Creek alum recently appeared onGood Morning America for his first live television interview with Robin Roberts since revealing his cancer diagnosis to People magazine. “Physically, I’m great. I’m feeling really good emotionally. You know, it’s a lot,” he told Roberts about his health.
Van Der Beek explained how “shocked” he was when he first received his diagnosis because of how healthy he thought he was. “I was doing what I thought I needed to do by getting a colonoscopy, which obviously, I did need to do,” he said.
The Varsity Blues actor previously admitted that he was having irregular bowel movements before receiving his diagnosis. He attempted to cut coffee out of his diet to fix the problem, but when it didn’t work he went to the hospital.
“I was in amazing cardiovascular shape. I was eating what I thought was healthy, and I had a whole agenda for what I thought my year would be and what I thought my priorities would be in the next couple of weeks and months,” he told Roberts. “And the reality that all of that was going to change and take a different trajectory — it felt like a nightmare, honestly, at first, that I couldn’t quite wake up from. And yeah, it’s a lot.”
Since receiving his diagnosis, Van Der Beek said he’s spent about “90 percent of the time” focusing on what life changes he can make that he never would have made before and feeling grateful for how these changes can benefit him.
As for the other 10 percent, he was “a sobbing, terrified mess.” “But, yeah, it’s been an exercise in just being present to all of it and really just allowing the fear to come up and look at it and also say, ‘All right, why is this in my prescription? Why are all these emotions coming up and how can this be great for me?’”
The actor also mentioned how grateful he was for his family’s support, including his wife Kimberly and their six children: Olivia, Joshua, Annabel, Emilia, Gwendolyn, and Jeremiah.
“Some of them are very outward with their fears, and they talk about them and some of them, it manifests in other ways and other behavioral ways or they get really quiet,” he said about his children. “If I could get them to stop calling it butt cancer, I’d be psyched. My six-year-old almost every other day goes, ‘Daddy, how’s your butt cancer going?’ So, yeah, they keep it light.”
Van Der Beek’s cancer diagnosis was first revealed in a statement published in People magazine. “I have 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,” the statement read. “There’s reason for optimism, and I’m feeling good.”
Colorectal cancer is a type of cancer that starts in either the colon or the rectum, which are both part of the large intestine in the body’s digestive system.
