James Van Der Beek's Second Act: Proud Father and Online Family Voice

James Van Der Beek, who died on Wednesday at 48 a little more than a year after announcing he had colorectal cancer, first rose to fame at 20 as the titular heartthrob on the teen drama "Dawson’s Creek." He later played roles including Mox in "Varsity Blues" and a fictionalized version of himself in "Don’t Trust the B — in Apartment 23." As his career matured and Hollywood opportunities slowed, he embraced family life, relishing being a husband and father of six and openly sharing his home on social media — at times becoming a "dadfluencer" of sorts.

His bios described him as variants of "husband, father, writer, professional make-believer, work in progress," and his feeds resembled a family photo album for roughly three million followers, filled with birthdays, anniversary posts, outdoor adventures and a recent clip of his youngest giggling as he made faces while wearing broken reading glasses.

Those posts often came with long, heartfelt captions.

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