James Van Der Beek, best known for his roles in both “Dawson’s Creek” and “Varsity Blues,” revealed that he has colon cancer.
In an Instagram post, Van Der Beek wrote, “‘It is cancer…’ Each year, approximately 2 billion people around the world receive this diagnosis. And I’m one of them.”
He continued, “There’s no playbook for how [to] announce these things, but I’d planned on talking about it at length with People magazine at some point soon… to raise awareness and tell my story on my own terms. But that plan had to be altered early this morning when I was informed that a tabloid was going to run with the news.”
Until now, he explained that he had been “dealing with this privately,” focusing on “getting treatment and dialing in my overall health with greater focus than ever before.”
He also shared, “I’m in a good place and feeling strong. It’s been quite the initiation, and I’ll tell you more when I’m ready.”
Van Der Beek then took a moment to apologize to people he knows personally who had to find out about his diagnosis through the media, noting, “Nothing about this process has occurred on my preferred timeline… But we roll with it, taking each surprise as a signpost, pointing us toward a greater destiny than we would have discovered without divine intervention.”
He thanked his followers for their love and support and said that there will be “more to come.”