A former cast member of “Dawson’s Creek” has confirmed what fans long suspected: a real-life love triangle involving stars James Van Der Beek, Joshua Jackson and Katie Holmes created a lasting rift between the two actors.
Kerr Smith, who played Jack McPhee on the series, lays out the dynamic in his memoir, “I Don’t Want to Wait,” published Tuesday. Smith, 54, called the situation — strikingly similar to the show’s own fictional love triangle between characters Dawson Leery, Pacey Witter and Joey Potter — the production’s “worst-kept secret.”
Smith joined the cast in 1998 and wrote that tension between Van Der Beek and Jackson was already present by then. “Those simmering tensions had a way of making the on-set air feel slightly charged, even on the most ordinary days, into Season 2 and beyond,” he wrote. “I arrived on the show to find the tension between James and Josh already in place — low-grade, unspoken, known to everyone.”
According to Smith, he never witnessed the two actors have a single conversation. “They didn’t hang out,” he wrote. “They didn’t interact off set. It wasn’t dramatic, and it didn’t get in the way of anything that mattered. It was simply… a thing that existed.”
That distance marked a sharp change from the pair’s earlier friendship — Van Der Beek and Jackson had been roommates before Smith joined the show, but by then had “gone their separate ways, address-wise … and otherwise too.”
Representatives for Holmes, Jackson and Van Der Beek did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Page Six.
A Relationship Never Fully Confirmed
Holmes and Jackson dated from 1998 to 1999, a relationship that has long been public. Holmes and Van Der Beek, however, never confirmed a romance. Asked directly in 2024 whether he had dated Holmes, Van Der Beek offered a cryptic answer: “What happens in the creek stays in the creek.”
A report in February alleged the two had been briefly involved. A source told the Daily Mail, “Katie was first dating James. Then fell in love with Josh. Then was dating Josh, then James and Josh were no longer roommates.”
Van Der Beek died in February at age 48 after a battle with cancer. He is survived by his wife, Kimberly Van Der Beek, and their six children.
Holmes and Jackson Reconnect
Despite the romantic history, Holmes and Jackson have remained on good terms. The two reunited last year to film the dramedy “Happy Hours,” and Holmes drew attention at the time for “liking” social media comments urging the former couple to get back together.
When Van Der Beek died, Holmes posted a tribute on Instagram reflecting on their time together on the show, writing, “To share a space with your imagination is sacred — breathing the same air in the land of make believe and trusting that each other’s hearts are safe in their expression.”
Jackson addressed the cast’s complicated history on the “Whine Down” podcast in 2025, acknowledging that he and former co-stars went through periods of not speaking after the show ended. He said Van Der Beek’s cancer diagnosis ultimately brought “the whole gang … reconnected.”
Holmes has one child, 20-year-old daughter Suri, with ex-husband Tom Cruise. Jackson shares a 6-year-old daughter, Juno, with ex-partner Jodie Turner-Smith.
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