A brief interaction with James Van Der Beek left a big impact on Erin Napier.
Van Der Beek died at the age of 48 on Wednesday, February 11. The Dawson’s Creek actor had been public about his battle with colorectal cancer, having revealed his diagnosis in 2024. Shortly after news of his death broke, Napier took to social media to share a sweet memory she has of the late actor.
“I spoke to him briefly in the revolving door of a hotel last year. Mae wanted to stay in it, spinning. I said ‘come on baby, let’s let this man come through.’ Not knowing it was him,” Erin — who shares her two daughters, Helen and Mae, with her husband, Ben Napier — wrote via her Instagram Story. “He smiles big at Mae and said ‘but MOM it’s so FUN!!!’”
The Home Town star said she “looked up and recognized” Van Der Beek as a “face from my teenage life.” She concluded, “He was so kind to a toddler and her tired mama. Just so you know. Praying for his family tonight.”
Erin shared her memory alongside a repost of Van Der Beek’s Instagram death announcement. “Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning. He met his final days with courage, faith, and grace,” read a message shared via his Instagram page. “There is much to share regarding his wishes, love for humanity, and the sacredness of time. Those days will come. For now we ask for peaceful privacy as we grieve our loving husband, father, son, brother, and friend.”
Courtesy of Erin Napier/Instagram
Van Der Beek is survived by his wife, Kimberly, and their six children, ranging in age from 15 to 4.
The actor was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer one year before he went public with his diagnosis via Instagram. “I’ve been dealing with this privately until now, getting treatment and dialing in my overall health with greater focus than ever before,” he wrote in November 2024. “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 recently opened up about his health in a December 2025 sit-down interview with Today‘s Craig Melvin. “I feel a little bit better every month. It’s required more of me, more patience, more discipline, more strength than I knew I had,” he shared on the NBC morning show. “I knew I was strong. I didn’t know I was this strong.”
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Van Der Beek told Melvin — who lost his own brother to colon cancer in 2020 — that his diagnosis gave him a new perspective on life. “I thought, ‘This is gonna be the best thing to ever happen to me,’” he explained. “I had this little voice in my head that said, ‘You’re gonna make changes in your life that you would never, ever make if you didn’t have this extreme of a diagnosis. And it’s gonna add healthy, happy years to your life.”
He added, “I never just stopped to appreciate, kind of, what I’d done. And I will say, every time someone says, ‘I’m praying for you, and I’m wishing you the best,’ I appreciate it.”
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