Jamie Lynn Sigler is sharing details about the last weeks she spent with James Van Der Beek before his death.
The Sopranos star, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2016, reflected on her friendship with Van Der Beek — who died of colorectal cancer at age 48 in February — in a new interview, saying she and the Dawson’s Creek actor “bonded a lot on what our illnesses can teach us.”
“I’m devastated that my friend is no longer here, you know?” Sigler, 44, told Us Weekly. “I think we all knew that there was so much more he could have done, but also, in his passing, to see how loved and celebrated he is and will always be. I don’t think he even knew that.”
She said about Van Der Beek: “I’ve never met somebody that is better at and enjoys being a father more.”
Van Der Beek is survived by his wife, Kimberly, and their six children: Olivia, 15, Joshua, 14, Annabel, 12, Emilia, 10, Gwendolyn, 7, and Jeremiah, 4.
“Nobody did it better than James and Kimberly,” Sigler told the outlet. “And their children are living proof of how beautifully they have parented and guided and lived with such intention and such care.”
While Van Der Beek rose to fame as the titular character in his beloved nineties sitcom, Sigler is best known for playing Meadow Soprano on the iconic HBO drama from 1999 to 2007.
Van Der Beek and Sigler, who has two sons with her husband Cutter Dykstra, both moved to Austin, Texas, after their days in the TV limelight to focus on their families amid their respective diagnoses.
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“I think really stepping into my acceptance and faith happened here in Austin, and with him, too,” Sigler told the outlet. “And being honest about pain and being brave in the face of it. We had a lot of like, ‘I see you’ moments, where we would push ourselves past maybe what our body is telling us it wants to do, because we want to be present in these moments. We don’t want to miss out on these moments with our friends or our children, and we shared many long eye contact moments of that.”
She added, “Our dream was always that him and I were going to dance together one day, and I got to see him a few days before he passed, and sit at his bedside, and I told him, ‘You wait for me, because we’re going to do that dance.’”
Van Der Beek’s family announced his death February 11 by saying he faced his final days “with courage, faith and grace.”
Hollywood paid tribute to the beloved actor with an outpouring of social media tributes. A GoFundMe for his family raised over $2 million.