James Van Der Beek explains the recent 'drastic changes' in his family's lives

The actor and his family recently relocated from California to Texas.

ByGood Morning America via logo
October 14, 2020, 1:50 PM

James Van Der Beek and his family have relocated from California to Texas following a particularly difficult year.

The former "Dancing With the Stars" competitor revealed last month that he and his wife, Kimberly, had decided to move their five children out of Los Angeles, but he did not say where they were headed.

In a candid Instagram post Tuesday, Van Der Beek explained that his brood has settled in their new home state and are "overflowing with profound gratitude."

"In the last ten months, we’ve had two late-term pregnancy losses, each of which put @vanderkimberly in the hospital, we spent Christmas break thinking she had a tumor (the doctor was wrong, thank god), I was prematurely booted off a reality dancing show I was favored to win in front of the whole world, and my mom died. And a shut-down," he wrote. "All of that led to some drastic changes in our lives, and dreams, and priorities... and landed us here."

Van Der Beek, 43, revealed in June that his wife suffered a miscarriage at 17 weeks gestation for the second time in about seven months. In addition to the trauma surrounding the pregnancy loss, Kimberly Van Der Beek had to be rushed to the hospital where she required multiple blood transfusions, the actor wrote at the time.

"And to all the families who have gone through this... you are not alone," he added.

The Van Der Beeks, who have been married for a decade, are parents to Olivia, 10, Joshua, 8, Annabel, 6, Emilia, 4, and Gwendolyn, 2. In a recent episode of The Make Down podcast, Kimberly Van Der Beek shared that she had mixed emotions about leaving L.A.

"I think we're in a time right now where people are wanting to ground themselves a little bit more into nature, and L.A. has been a magical place for many years for me. So much life has been lived here," she said, "But, you know, I gotta get out of the concrete jungle for a little bit.”