James Van Der Beek, known for his staring role on “Dawson’s Creek,” has expressed just how happy he still is about his choice to make the massive move from the Los Angeles area to Texas, stating the change has “centered” his family and allowed his children to lead much more happy lives.
The now 45-year-old star opened up about the transition during a recent People magazine interview.
“I know for me, it’s been really centering and I feel like for the kids, it’s been grounding, and a different kind of education that we never could have offered them in a classroom,” he stated on the topic of building a new home in Texas alongside Kimberly, his wife, and their group of six kids.
“Just the things that we’re all aware of, like what phase the moon is in because we come out, we look at it,” Van Der Beek went on. “I feel like we have a relationship with these natural cycles that are happening.”
He utilized an example of how he saw rain while residing within the city in comparison to how he saw it now.
“Rain in L.A., it was like, ‘Ah, man I’m gonna be 20 minutes late because it’s raining.’ Here, it’s a godsend,” explained the actor. “They jump around. They sing, ‘rain, rain come today,’ and they run out in it, because we need it,” he explains, noting the drought they’ve experienced. “It’s just connected us, not just to nature, but to the natural life cycles all around us.”
Previously, Van Der Beek has issued public statements about his excitement for his family leaving their life in city behind for a new life in Texas. Both he and Kimberly share daughters Olivia, 12, Annabel, 8, Emilia, 6, and Gwendolyn, 4, along with sons Joshua, 10, and Jeremiah, who just turned 1.
“We love it. We have a lot more space,” stated the actor this past June. “We all need a more immediate connection to nature. It’s been a really, really great move and the kids are really happy.”
“The parks have been amazing,” he went on. “We’ve been going to state parks and the national parks. It’s just one of the benefits of getting out of the big city was getting to a place where we could just have more space right outside our door. It’s a very, it’s a very different life.”
“We watch the sunset,” he continued. “We can actually see stars, which is a new thing.”
