A paraglider video posted in 2020 told the whole story.
James Van Der Beek filmed the silent aircraft drifting over open land and wrote: “When people ask why we’re moving our kids out of L.A., these are just some of the reasons”.
He wasn’t being cryptic. He was escaping a nightmare year that nearly destroyed his family.
The 10-Month Collapse
Van Der Beek, who died February 11, 2026 at 48, endured what he called “the toughest 10 months” before leaving Beverly Hills.
What Happened:
- 2 late-term pregnancy losses requiring hospitalization for wife Kimberly
- Mother’s death
- Business partner betrayal
- Christmas spent fearing Kimberly had a tumor
- Pandemic shutdown
“In the last ten months, we’ve had two late-term pregnancy losses,” Van Der Beek wrote on Instagram before the move.
The Texas Solution
September 2020: The family of seven loaded pets and five children into vehicles for a 1,500-mile journey to Austin.
They didn’t rush it. The Van Der Beeks stopped at the Grand Canyon and explored rural New Mexico during the weeks-long road trip.
Their destination: a 36-acre ranch that Kimberly had connected with during an anniversary trip. She’d meditated under an oak tree and told Austin Life the state had “the capacity to heal”.
Rebuilding in Austin
2021: Sixth child Jeremiah was born.
2022: Van Der Beek described the move as “really centering” for his six children—Olivia, Joshua, Annabel, Emilia, Gwendolyn, and Jeremiah.
“We wanted to give them space and we wanted them to live in nature,” he told Fox News. “The kids can watch the seasons change… it’s been grounding”.
Van Der Beek also reconnected with the energy he’d felt filming Varsity Blues in Texas at age 21—decades before he’d become a father.
Why It Matters
Van Der Beek’s move foreshadowed the pandemic-era celebrity exodus from Los Angeles, but his reasons ran deeper than COVID-19. He spent his final 5+ years building a life prioritized around family recovery and nature. Kimberly announced his death from bowel cancer on February 11, just one day after People magazine published new details about their Texas sanctuary. The ranch gave his children irreplaceable time with their father before he died at 48.
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