James Van Der Beek: Tabloid threat pushed cancer disclosure

“Dawson’s Creek” star James Van Der Beek, who recently disclosed that he had been diagnosed with colorectal cancer, is apologizing to his loved ones who learned about his illness through the media.

The actor took to Instagram to share a lengthy post Sunday about his diagnosis after first announcing the news via People and confirming it to The Times and other outlets through a spokesperson.

“It is cancer … Each year, approximately 2 billion people around the world receive this diagnosis. And I’m one of them,” the 47-year-old wrote.

The “Varsity Blues” and “Don’t Trust the B— in Apartment 23” star said “there’s no playbook for how announce these things,” adding that he had planned to talk to the magazine “at length” to raise awareness and tell his story on his own terms. However, on Sunday, those plans abruptly changed.

“[T]hat plan had to be altered early this morning when I was informed that a tabloid was going to run with the news,” Van Der Beek wrote. “I’ve been dealing with this privately until now, getting treatment and dialing in my overall health with greater focus than ever before. 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.

“Apologies to all the people in my life who I’d planned on telling myself. 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 added. “Please know that my family and I deeply appreciate all the love and support.”

Van Der Beek did not specify what type of colorectal cancer he had been diagnosed with, but he told People that “there’s reason for optimism.”

According to the American Cancer Society, colorectal cancer starts in the colon or the rectum, both of which are part of the large intestine, and can also be referred to as colon cancer or rectal cancer, depending on where it originated. The cancers are often grouped together because they have many features in common and occur when malignant polyps develop in either of the digestive organs.

Excluding skin cancers, colorectal is the third most common cancer diagnosed in both men and women in the United States, but the rate of people being diagnosed with it has dropped overall since the mid-1980s, mostly due to early screenings and reducing lifestyle-related risk factors, the society said. The five-year relative survival rate, is 65%, according to the National Institute of Health. However, that figure varies depending on the type of cancer, its origin and other factors.

Van Der Beek, who relocated his wife and six children to Texas from California in 2020, is next set to appear in the Tubi Romance “Sidelined: The QB and Me” and “The Real Full Monty,” a TV special airing in December in which he and other celebrities will participate in a striptease to bring awareness to prostate, testicular and colorectal cancer testing and research.

Times staff writer Wendy Lee contributed to this report.