James Van Der Beek and his wife, Kimberly, have been incredibly candid about their family: the highs and the lows. Unfortunately, the family is dealing with a particularly brutal low now. Before he was eliminated from this season of Dancing with the Stars, James revealed that Kimberly suffered another miscarriage.
The Van Der Beeks have spoken openly about coping with miscarriage before, but this time marks a particularly high-profile tragedy, as James shared the news on his last episode of Dancing.
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“My wife Kimberly and I went through every expecting parent’s worst nightmare,” James said in a prerecorded segment that aired during last week’s Dancing semifinals. “We lost the baby.”
“The little soul that we had expected to welcome into our family took a shortcut to whatever lies beyond,” he continued.
He then said:
“You never know why these things happen It’s what I’ve been telling my kids. All you know is that it brings you closer together, it breaks you open, it opens up your heart, it deepens your appreciation. It makes you more human. I really didn’t think I’d be dancing tonight. But Kimberly from her hospital bed said to me, ‘I am not done watching you dance.”
After the segment aired, Kimberly took to Instagram to address the news herself.
“Thank you, everyone, for all the love,” Kimberly said via Instagram Stories. “I don’t even know how I’m going to begin to respond to it all so I think I’ll just have to do it here.”
“In 48 hours we lost our baby — boy, by the way — and I almost lost my life. Which is not a story that has been told, but at some point, I can dig into the details with you guys about what happened in the emergency room,” she continued.
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Kimberly also said that she is not ready to talk in any further detail about the miscarriage, but added “at some point, I will.”
James Van Der Beek and His Wife Kimberly Open Up About Life with 5 Kids and Suffering Through Earlier Miscarriages
James has been busy dancing his way through season 28 of Dancing with the Stars, but he’s even busier at home, taking care of his five children with wife Kimberly.
James Van Der Beek and Wife Kimberly Talk About Life With 5 Kids
James recently joked that the “hot tub is a really great babysitter” when his wife is away. “Yeah, [I] just throw them all in the pool [when she’s out of town], the star told reporters after a recent episode.
The couple had only recently announced that they were expecting baby number six, who would have joined siblings Olivia, 8, Joshua, 7, Annabel, 5, Emilia, 3 and Gwendolyn, 14 months.
“They’re a bunch of fun-loving kids,” the star told People. “We dance all the time in the house. We just put some music on and all of them dance!”
James Van Der Beek and Wife Kimberly Open Up About 3 Previous Miscarriages
The couple also spoke with People about three previous miscarriages they suffered as they grew their family.
“It’s so hard, but it’s important to talk about,” Kimberly told People. “We wait so long to tell people that we are pregnant so the possibility of miscarriage has decreased. But in the meantime, you’re tired, you need help and you’re going through one of the wildest times of your life.”
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James. who has spoken on the topic before, says even the language we use to talk about miscarriage is wrong. “‘She miscarried’ puts not even subtle blame on the mother, but in all but the most extreme cases, there is nothing the mother did or didn’t do,” he told People.
“It’s a natural reaction to reason your way out of pain,” James continued. “Especially for guys. But I want to encourage people to give themselves space to grieve the loss of that expectation, of that dream. You can support each other.”
“And by talking with friends, you’re not being secretive, and the people closest to you can help you through this thing, which is a major life event,” he said.
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James Van Der Beek on Dancing With the Stars
The Dawson’s Creek star shared that his kids love watching him on DWTS. In fact. Olivia shed some proud tears while watching her dad perform.
“That was confirmation again [of] why I do the show, to her proud,” Van Der Beek told Us Weekly. “For her to watch my journey, because she also sees the first time we record, the first day I learn…I think she was just really proud.”
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Unfortunately, James was eliminated from the program last week, just after publicly revealing Kimberly had suffered a miscarriage.
Dancing with the Stars airs Mondays at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
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