James Van Der Beek’s ten-year-old son “can sniff out” when people recognise him.
The 45-year-old star – who is best known for playing Dawson Leery in ‘Dawson’s Creek’ – has revealed that his children have become increasingly aware of his fame in recent years.
James – who has Olivia, 12, Joshua, ten, Annabel, eight, Emilia, six, Gwendolyn, four, and son Jeremiah, 12 months, with his wife Kimberly – explained: “My son can sniff out when we walk into a restaurant and somebody recognises me – the skill that took me like 20 years to learn. And he just gets it: ‘Daddy, those ladies at the table right now? They know.’ It’s interesting.”
James has tried to be “really honest” with his children about his experiences of fame.
He told PEOPLE: “It’s a cool thing to be able to make somebody smile just from a really simple social interaction, and that’s really pretty much all that it is when you’re out and about.
“It’s been an interesting thing to navigate but I think they all, I think they only kind of get it.”
James and Kimberly recently celebrated Jeremiah’s first birthday.
And the actor considers his youngest child to be a “blessing” for his family.
He said: “He’s by far the biggest baby we’ve ever made by a long shot. He’s really been a blessing. Whatever he costs in sleep – and is still costing in sleep – he’s just well worth it.”
Kimberly suffered two pregnancy losses in November 2019 and in June 2022, both at 17 weeks.
And she subsequently revealed that they chose names for both of their sons before the tragedies.
Kimberly said: “I was told I was going to have the miscarriage a few minutes before it happened. I was told I was going to have to go to the hospital a few minutes before they had to make the decision.
“After the foetus came out, I was told exactly where to bury it. … So we have two foetuses in our mama plant. We named them John and Zachariah.”
