James Van Der Beek renewed vows with wife Kimberly from his bed days before death

Couple renewed their vows surrounded by family, while friends watched over Zoom

James Van Der Beek renewed his vows with wife Kimberley just days before his death aged 48, it has been revealed.

The Dawson’s Creek star, who was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer in 2023, died on Wednesday (11 February). His death was announced by his spouse of 15 years, Kimberley, who was also the mother of his six children.

“Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning. He met his final days with courage, faith, and grace,” she wrote in a statement on Instagram.

Now, in her first interview since her husband’s death, Kimberly has shared that she and the actor had decided to renew their vows in a “simple, beautiful and moving” ceremony during James’s final days.

“We decided two days beforehand and our friends got us new rings, filled our bedroom with flowers and candles and we renewed our vows from bed,” she told People.

James and Kimberley’s family were in attendance along with a few close friends, while others watched over Zoom. Kimberley said that “the most beautiful music” was played by their friend Poranguí, an instrumentalist who closed the ceremony with “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”.

The actor died last week, two and half years after being diagnosed with colorectal cancer (Getty Images for Prime Video)

It was November 2024 when James revealed that he had privately been receiving treatment for colorectal cancer. The actor had initially brushed off symptoms such as irregular bowel movements, before he was diagnosed in the summer of 2023.

James leaned into his Christian faith in his final months, feeling that cancer treatment had stripped him of his identity and brought him face to face with his own mortality. “I had to come nose to nose with death,” he said in a video posted on Instagram for his birthday in March 2025. “And all those definitions that I cared so deeply about were stripped from me."

Following his death, friends of the Van Der Beek family launched a GoFundMe to support his wife and their six young children amid the costly medical bills they incurred during his care.

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The couple renewed their vows days before the actor's death (Getty Images for Hilarity for Ch)

At the time of writing, the fundraiser has amassed more than $2.69m (£1.98m) in donations, including a $25,000 (£18,414) donation from Steven Spielberg.

However, after some questioned the family’s need for financial assistance, a number of James’s famous friends came to their defence.

“Not everything is what it looks like online. A little context goes a long way,” Broadway star Donna Vivino wrote Friday on Instagram, noting that the family did not own the farm they live on and didn’t live off residual payments from Dawson’s Creek due to what James once called a “bad contract”.

“For those of you attacking James Van Der Beek’s wife for having a GoFundMe may I give you some FACTS?” she said.