{"id":476537,"date":"2026-02-13T04:04:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T04:04:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/476537\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T04:04:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T04:04:07","slug":"katie-holmes-pays-tribute-to-dawsons-creek-co-star-james-van-der-beek-in-handwritten-letter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/476537\/","title":{"rendered":"Katie Holmes pays tribute to Dawson’s Creek co-star James Van Der Beek in handwritten letter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Katie Holmes has shared a handwritten letter on social media expressing sorrow over the death of fellow actor James Van Der Beek and gratitude for his impact.<\/p>\n

Van Der Beek \u2014 who shot to fame in the late 1990s and early 2000s as Dawson Leery in the television series Dawson’s Creek \u2014 died of colorectal cancer<\/a> on Wednesday. He was 48.<\/p>\n

Holmes, who played Dawson’s love interest Joey Potter, posted her tribute to Instagram.<\/p>\n

“James,” she wrote.<\/p>\n

“Thank you. To share space with your imagination is sacred \u2014 breathing the same air in the land of make believe and trusting that each other’s hearts are safe in their expression \u2026 these are some of the memories along with laughter, conversations about life, James Taylor songs \u2014 adventures of a unique youth \u2026”<\/p>\n

Loading Instagram content<\/p>\n

Holmes went on to highlight Van Der Beek’s bravery, as well as his compassion, selflessness and strength.<\/p>\n

“An appreciation for life and the action taken to live life with the integrity that life is art \u2014 creating a beautiful marriage, six loving children \u2014 the journey of a hero.”<\/p>\n

Holmes said she is mourning the loss of her friend “with a heart holding the reality of his absence and deep gratitude for his imprint on it”.<\/p>\n

She informed his wife and children, she would be there for them always.<\/p>\n

James Van Der Beek embraced his character with humour<\/a><\/p>\n

James Van Der Beek’s death prompts wide-ranging tributes from co-stars and friends who have praised his kindness and humour.<\/p>\n

In her caption, Holmes said she had formed these words with a heavy heart and that Van Der Beek’s death was a lot to process.<\/p>\n

A GoFundMe page has been set up to raise funds for his wife, Kimberly, and his six children.<\/p>\n

According to the fundraising page, they face an uncertain future after doing everything they could to support Van Der Beek and provide for his care.<\/p>\n

The fundraiser has attracted a huge response from fans and prominent donors, exceeding its $US1.5 million ($2.10 million) target.<\/p>\n

Dawson’s Creek was a hit teen drama that aired from 1998 to 2003, and followed the lives of a close-knit group of friends in the fictional town of Capeside. It currently streams on Stan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Katie Holmes has shared a handwritten letter on social media expressing sorrow over the death of fellow actor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,14312,134,111042,242613,14314,242612],"class_list":{"0":"post-476537","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-dawsons-creek","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-james-van-der-beek","13":"tag-james-van-der-beek-death","14":"tag-katie-holmes","15":"tag-katie-holmes-tribute"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}