James Van Der Beek gave fans an emotional update on his mental state since being diagnosed with colorectal cancer.
“Physically, I’m great. I feel very good,” shared the 47-year-old Van Der Beek with Robin Roberts on Good morning America on Tuesday, December 3. “Emotionally, you know, it’s a lot. It really is a journey.
Van der Beek, who declared that he was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer last month noted that he was “frankly in shock” after learning of his diagnosis.
“I had a whole agenda of what I thought my year was going to be and what I thought my priorities were going to be … and the reality that it was all going to change and take a different trajectory — it felt like a nightmare at first, honestly said,” he explained to Roberts, 64, adding that while he’s upset about his new reality, he knows it will “add many happy years” to his life.
The Dawson’s Creek the actor revealed that he will “make changes that (he) would never have made otherwise” and will ultimately be grateful to have gone through this difficult time.
“I’ll look back (in) 30 years and say, ‘Thank God that happened,'” he shared. “So what can I do right now to make this so? That was about 90% of the time. I’d say about 10% of the time I was a sobbing, terrified mess.
Although the diagnosis took an emotional toll on him, James couldn’t help but tear up as he talked about how his wife Kimberly Van Der Beek supported him through it all.
“She was amazing. She really taught me what unconditional love is. “I’m someone who has always in the past tried to do everything for everyone and never asked for help,” he explained, adding that the need to “get help” is a relatively new development in his life.
“The beautiful blessing of it is to see how many people in my life have appeared,” he added.
In November, James opened for the first time around dealing with colorectal cancer.
“It’s cancer… Every year, approximately 2 billion people worldwide receive this diagnosis. And I’m one of them,” he wrote on Instagram at the time. “There’s no handbook on how (to) announce these things, but I planned to talk about it at length with people magazine at some point soon… to raise awareness and tell my story on my own terms. But that plan had to be changed early this morning when I was informed that a tabloid would publish the news.
James shared that he “privately” battled the disease and received treatment.
“I’m in a good place and I feel strong,” he added. “It was a pretty good start and I’ll tell you more when I’m ready.”
