James Van Der Beek<\/a>\u00a0has colorectal cancer, PEOPLE can confirm.<\/p>\n “I have colorectal cancer. I\u2019ve been privately dealing with this diagnosis and have been taking steps to resolve it, with the support of my incredible family,\u201d the star, 47, tells PEOPLE exclusively.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s reason for optimism, and I\u2019m feeling good,” Van Der Beek adds.<\/p>\n Colorectal cancer, per the\u00a0American Cancer Society<\/a>, starts in the colon or the rectum, which make up the large intestine in the digestive system. Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for\u00a0PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a>\u00a0to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer\u200b\u200b, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/strong><\/p>\n Despite the diagnosis, Van Der Beek has actively been working as he navigates his care.<\/p>\n He recently appeared on an episode of\u00a0Walker<\/em>\u00a0and he is next set to star in\u00a0Sidelined: The QB and Me<\/em>, a Tubi original film out Nov. 29.<\/p>\n Van Der Beek has also prioritized time with his family \u2014 wife\u00a0Kimberly Van Der Beek<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0their\u00a0six kids<\/a>: Olivia, Joshua, Annabel, Emilia, Gwendolyn and Jeremiah.<\/p>\n Back in June, the group\u00a0took a memorable trip to Egypt<\/a>. In an Instagram post, the\u00a0Varsity Blues<\/em>\u00a0alum\u00a0shared photos of himself and his family posing with a camel, looking at the Egyptian pyramids and more.<\/p>\n “#Egypt\u2026 With all my vocabulary, ‘Wow’ is what fell out of my mouth most of the time. We were gifted a magical experience, one I\u2019m still processing – and might be for the rest of my life,” Van Der Beek wrote, in part, in his caption. “The kids were rock stars, my friends became brothers, and despite all the travel and time zone crossing and early-morning alarms, I feel recharged.”<\/p>\n Later in December, Van Der Beek is set to appear on\u00a0The Real Full Monty<\/em><\/a>, a two-hour special where a group of male celebrities will strip down to raise awareness for prostate, testicular, and colorectal cancer testing and research.<\/p>\n Alongside the star, the special will also feature fellow actor\u00a0Taye Diggs<\/a>, Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle\u00a0Chris Jones<\/a>\u00a0and longtime\u00a0Dancing with the Stars<\/em><\/a>\u00a0judge\u00a0Bruno Tonioli<\/a>.<\/p>\n The event, inspired by the Oscar-nominated 1997 film\u00a0The Full Monty<\/em>, will be executive produced by\u00a0Anthony Anderson<\/a>.<\/p>\n “Embarrassingly, I thought I was just doing Anthony Anderson a favor and supporting cancer. But then once we got there and we really started to talk about these issues, everyone started opening up and we got to know each other on a different level,” Diggs recently\u00a0told PEOPLE<\/a>\u00a0of the special.<\/p>\n The Real Full Monty\u00a0<\/em>is set to premiere on Dec. 9.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “I\u2019ve been privately dealing with this diagnosis and have been taking steps to resolve it, with the support of my incredible family,” the actor tells PEOPLE exclusively James … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13068,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13067"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13069,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13067\/revisions\/13069"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n![\"THE](\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/dQYKAgwC-ZZlXt81VFjVimxwItY=\/4000x0\/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(609x606:611x608):format(webp)\/James-Van-Der-Beek-Diagnosis-110324-01-9e5efcabc6334ff59e3aaefc3c09dfba.jpg\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>![\"AUSTIN,](\"https:\/\/people.com\/thmb\/50i1QDmfVko4X-RXGbB6F3dYzEw=\/4000x0\/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(602x486:604x488):format(webp)\/Kimberly-Van-Der-Beek-James-Van-Der-Beek-110324-fd8fd54f6a4c48838bbc59ae5a3707ea.jpg\")
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