James Van Der Beek's wife shares touching glimpse of his final career moments: 'He was so proud'

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: James Van Der Beek's wife, Kimberly Van Der Beek, has spoken about the late actor’s final days, which he spent with his daughters on set while filming for his last role.

James was 48 when he died in February 2026 from stage 3 colorectal cancer. Before his passing, he played the role of a mayoral candidate in ‘Elle’, the ‘Legally Blonde’ prequel series, which will start streaming on Prime Video from July 1.

James Van Der Beek's daughters, Emilia and Annabel, visited him on 'Elle' set

Now on Thursday, June 25, James’ wife shared a video on her now-disappeared Instagram Story from the New York City premiere of ‘Elle’, in which co-showrunner Caroline Dries can be seen talking about him.

Above the video, Kimberly, who shares three children with the ‘Varsity Blues’ star, wrote, “Emilia and Annabel had the pleasure of separately being on set with him. They treated the kiddos beautifully, and he was so proud of this role... especially because his daughters were so looking forward to watching it!”

The couple’s other children are Olivia, 15, Joshua, 14, Gwendolyn, eight, and Jeremiah, four.

James Van Der Beek 'showed us nothing but kindness' to the cast of 'Elle'

Meanwhile, during her speech, Dries remembered James as “buoyant and happy” while working on the series.

She continued, “James told me that acting allowed him to be someone [else] and forget the pain he was in. But even off camera, James appeared to be buoyant and happy. He brought his daughters to the set, he sat with us on plastic folding chairs in the video village, he made us laugh, he told us stories and he showed us nothing but kindness.”

“This would be James' last role. Our cast gave him the space to feel that joy,” Dries added.

In a separate interview, the television writer shared that the ‘Dawson's Creek’ actor “said to us, ‘When I’m acting, I forget all the stuff I’m going through personally, and I get to become a different person, and you can just turn that part of your life off.’”

James Van Der Beek showcased 'good energy and positive outlook on set'

Co-showrunner Laura Kittrell also remembered James as “so fun and game”. She added, “When we were conceiving of that character, we always thought it would be so fun to have somebody who did feel like more of a ’90s throwback. He was just so fun and game and had such a good energy and positive outlook on set.”

Shedding more light on the time they spent with James on the set, Kittrell noted, “At a point in the season where you start to get tired, the hours are long, having [his daughters] around just being so positive and so invested and curious about everything was so fun.”

“They were Legally Blonde fans and also the blondest girls I’ve ever seen,” she claimed.