James Van Der Beek recalls the 'shock' of cancer diagnosis

“I’m very cautiously optimistic," the actor says now, more than a year later.

James Van Der Beek surprised his fans this month when the former star of Dawson's Creek and Don't Trust the B in Apartment 23 revealed that he has been diagnosed with colorectal cancer. But that's nothing compared to the shock Van Der Beek himself felt when he was first given the diagnosis by a doctor.

In a new interview with PEOPLE, the actor said that he had been living a healthy, active lifestyle and had no reason to suspect that cancer was on the horizon. Even when he started experiencing strange bowel movements in summer 2023, he thought the problem must have been his diet.

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“I thought maybe I needed to stop coffee,” Van Der Beek told PEOPLE. “Or maybe not put cream in the coffee. But when I cut that out and it didn’t improve, I thought, ‘All right, I better get this checked out.’”

So he went in for a colonoscopy, and that's when the truth came out.

“I felt really good coming out of anesthesia, that I’d finally done it,” he said. “Then the gastroenterologist said — in his most pleasant bedside manner — that it was cancer. I think I went into shock.”

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Since the diagnosis, Van Der Beek has been trying different treatments for colorectal cancer. Typical strategies include chemotherapy and surgery. Van Der Beek said, “if you’ve heard about it, I’ve probably touched on it.”

Van Der Beek is on the cover of the latest issue of PEOPLE. But even before the big interview was ready to roll out, he had to preemptively announce the news a little early after he became aware that an unnamed tabloid publication was planning to reveal the diagnosis ahead of time.

"Apologies to all the people in my life who I’d planned on telling myself,” Van Der Beek wrote on Instagram earlier this month. “Nothing about this process has occurred on my preferred timeline… But we roll with it, taking each surprise as a signpost, pointing us toward a greater destiny than we would have discovered without divine intervention.”

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Despite the shock of the initial diagnosis, Van Der Beek assured fans and well-wishers that there's reason for hope.

“I’m very cautiously optimistic," he told PEOPLE. "I’m in a place of healing, my energy levels are great. When I’ve been out of the woods completely for what feels like a responsible amount of time, I’ll circle back and let you know.”

Read the full interview at PEOPLE.