PREVIEW

Michelle Williams has broken her silence on the death of her Dawson's Creek co-star James Van Der Beek. The Brokeback Mountain actress addressed the passing of her late friend and co-star for the first time on Sunday night, after she accepted an Actor Award for her TV miniseries Dying for Sex. Speaking to Entertainment Tonight backstage at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, Williams opened up about Van Der Beek. ”I'm thinking about him and I'm thinking about his family constantly," she told the outlet. Williams, who played Jen Lindley opposite Van Der Beek's Dawson Leery in the teen drama series, went on to thank those who have contributed to the GoFundMe set up to support the actor's widow and children since he passed away on 11 February at the age of 48. ”I also just want to say, like, it's been such an amazing thing as James' friend and a friend of the family to see the response in the wake of his passing and I just really want to say thank you to each and every person who contributed to sustaining their life and their children's lives. It's an incredibly meaningful thing to witness.” Sunday night's Actor Awards marked Williams' first public outing since Van Der Beek's death. She won Best Actress in a Limited Series. Van Der Beek was diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer in 2023. In September last year, Williams reunited with her Dawson's Creek cast members for a live table read of the pilot episode in New York City to raise money for F Cancer. Van Der Beek was slated to attend, but he dropped out due to a stomach virus, so Lin-Manuel Miranda filled in for him. Williams helped produce the event with her husband Thomas Kail.
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