Joshua Jackson just revealed how he has been coping with his pal, James Van Der Beek’s death.
During the latest episode of The Today Show, the Dawson’s Creek star shared the grief he felt over losing his friend and co-star.
“I think it hits in a variety of different ways,” the 47-year-old said.
He continued, “For me as a father now, the enormity of that tragedy hits me in a very different way than just as a colleague, so I think the processing is ongoing.”
Joshua, who has a five-year-old daughter Juno with his ex-wife, Jodie Turner-Smith, explained he now saw his longtime friend through the lens of fatherhood and described him as a “real man.”
James, who died from stage 3 colorectal cancer last month at the age of 48, was father to six children, whom he shared with his wife, Kimberly Brook.
“He became what we used to just call a ‘good man,’ a man of the kind of belief, the kind of faith that allowed him to face the impossible with grace, an unbelievable partner and husband, right?” Joshua said on the show.
“Just a real man who showed up for his family and a beautiful, kind, curious, interested, dedicated father. And so while on the one hand that’s beautiful and I think he did lead a very good life and he was a good man, it is also – the tragedy of that loss for his family is enormous,” he further mentioned.
Joshua, who co-starred with James in the teen drama Dawson’s Creek, believes that while the screen-time the two shared on the show has always kept fans hooked, it is James’ later achievements that he would be remembered for.
“It was formative for us, and I know both of us look back on that time with great fondness,” he reflected.
“But I will also say is, I know that I’m just a footnote in what he actually accomplished in his life,” Joshua Jackson concluded.