Following news that James Van Der Beek died at age 48, “Dancing with the Stars” judge Derek Hough shared the late actor’s emotional message about faith, mortality, and “God’s love” after a years-long battle with colon cancer.
Van Der Beek’s wife, Kimberly Van Der Beek, confirmed his death in a Wednesday social media post, as Hough reposted a March 2025 video that has since been viewed millions of times across social media over the past day.
“My heart is heavy hearing about James’ passing. I immediately thought of this video he shared, it moved me to tears the first time I saw it, and it moves me even more now. I wanted to honor his memory by sharing,” Hough wrote, describing Van Der Beek as a “wise, thoughtful, loving man,” and thanking him for shining through his “darkest moments.”
“Today’s my birthday, and it has been the hardest year of my life,” Van Der Beek said in the clip, reflecting on how cancer treatment upended the identity he’d built as an actor, husband, and father.
“When I was younger, I used to define myself as an actor, which was never really all that fulfilling. And then I became a husband, and that was much better. And then I became a father, and that was the ultimate,” he said. “I could define myself then as a loving, capable, strong, supportive husband, father, provider, steward of the land that we’re so lucky to live on. And for a long time, that felt like a really good definition to the question, ‘Who am I? What am I?’ And then this year, I had to look my own mortality in the eye. I had to come nose to nose with death.”
He said “all of those definitions” were “stripped away” as treatment left him unable to provide for his family the way he once did.
“As I move through this healing portal toward recovery, I wanted to share that with you because I think that revelation that came to me was due in no small part to all the prayers and the love that had been directed toward me. So I offer that to you, however it sits in your consciousness, however it resonates—run with it,” VanDer Beek continued. “And so I was faced with the question: ‘If I am just a too-skinny, weak guy alone in an apartment with cancer, what am I?’”
Van Der Beek said he “meditated and the answer came through” to him: “I am worthy of God’s love, simply because I exist. And if I’m worthy of God’s love, shouldn’t I also be worthy of my own? And the same is true for you.”
“And if the word ‘God’ trips you up, I certainly don’t know, I can’t claim to know what God is or explain God. My efforts to connect to God are an ongoing process that is a constant unfolding mystery to me. But if it’s a trigger, it feels too religious, you can take the word ‘God’ out and your mantra can simply be, ‘I am worthy of love.’ Because you are.”
Watch the clip below:
An incredible message from a man who has now met his Maker.
May you rest in peace, Vander James.
— Patrick Bet-David (@patrickbetdavid) February 11, 2026
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