James Van Der Beek shared an uplifting message about his cancer diagnosis just two months before he died at age 48 on Wednesday, February 11. "As soon as I heard the news [about my colorectal cancer diagnosis], I went into shock," Van Der Beek admitted to Today's Craig Melvin on December 19, 2025, in what turned out to be the actor's final interview. "One of the things I was really lucky about was, as soon as I heard the news, I thought, 'This is going to be the best thing that ever happened to me.