Katie Holmes shared a touching handwritten message on Wednesday honoring her late Dawson’s Creek co-star James Van Der Beek.
“Some words made with a heavy heart,” the 47-year-old actress captioned her Instagram upload, explaining to her followers that she “has a lot to process.”
Holmes, who played Joey Potter on the show from 1998 to 2003, added: “I’m so grateful to have been able to share a part of James’ journey. He is so loved.”
She concluded with a passionate message to James’ wife Kimberly Van Der Beek: “We love you and will always be here for you and your (six) beautiful children ❤️.”
As for Holmes’ note with a photo, it thanked Holmes, best known for her starring role in the movie “Dawson’s Creek,” who lost her battle with colorectal cancer on Wednesday at the age of 48.
“It is sacred to share imaginative space, to breathe the same air in a land of belief, to trust that each other’s minds are safe in expression,” Holmes wrote. “These are some of the memories, laughs, conversations about life, songs by James Taylor, and a unique youthful adventure.”
The Kennedy alum went on to highlight James’s “compassion, courage, selflessness, and strength,” before noting his “appreciation for life through the integrity that life is art.”
She called his “beautiful marriage and six loving children” a “hero’s journey.”
Holmes continued: “I mourn this loss mindful of the reality of his absence and deeply grateful for his legacy.”
She concluded by promising Kimberly and her children (Olivia, 14, Joshua, 13, Annabelle, 12, Emilia, 8, Gwendolyn, 6, and Jeremiah, 3) that she would “always be there for her” with “love and care.”
Kimberly married James in August 2010, and ten years later the couple moved their family from Los Angeles to Texas.
The “Pose” alum was diagnosed with cancer in August 2023 and went public with his health concerns in November of the following year.
Kimberly announced James’ death on Instagram on Wednesday, writing: “(He) passed away peacefully this morning. He met his final days with courage, faith and grace.”
The GoFundMe was set up by James’ friends as his family faces an “uncertain future.” Donations have already exceeded $1 million.
Friends of the Masked Singer alum, including Stacey Keibler, also shared intimate photos of James’ last days at Spicewood Ranch.
