James Van Der Beek, 43, and his wife Kimberly Brook, have suffered another heartbreaking loss. “Last weekend, once again, 17 weeks in… the soul we’d been excited to welcome into the world had lessons for our family that did not include joining us in a living physical body,” James wrote in a lengthy and emotional Instagram caption on Saturday, June 20. “We rushed @vanderkimberly to the hospital by ambulance for another harrowing night of blood transfusions. And as I stood by, grateful for the good people who navigated the maze of regulations to save her life,” the Dawson’s Creek alum added.
Kimberly experienced another miscarriage less than a year ago, which James had sadly confirmed in Nov. 2019 while competing on Dancing With The Stars. “After suffering a brutal, very public miscarriage last November, we were overjoyed to learn we were pregnant. This time, we kept the news to ourselves,” he explained. “[I felt] helpless to do much for the woman I loved other than massage her feet and try to keep her warm (with my #DWTS robe, ironically).” Kimberly has suffered a gut wrenching five miscarriages over a nine year period, and nearly lost her own life in the hospital last fall following the loss.
“We’ve got to take better care of each other,” James urged. “The world is in pain right now. There’s denial, shock, numbness, anger – all the old patterns we cling to when deep trauma is unearthed. And there are no words to ease that pain… to make the process hurt less or to solve it quickly. But the way out of it? Starts with an open, broken-hearted contemplation of this question: How can we take better care of each other?” he asked, referencing the outbreak of COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement.
James and Kimberly are parents to five adorable kids, including Olivia, 9, Joshua, 8, Annabel, 6, Emilia, 4, and Gwendolyn, 2, who are often featured on the pairs Instagram accounts. The Varsity Blues star added words of encouragement for those who have suffered through a similar experience, writing “and to all the families who have gone through this… you are not alone.”