Showbiz

James Van Der Beek: 'Becoming a dad changed me'

Published Wednesday, Jun 8 2011, 16:14 BST | By Justin Harp | 1 comment

James Van Der Beek has said that becoming a father changed the "trajectory" of his life.

The former Dawson's Creek star and wife Kimberly Brook welcomed their first daughter, Olivia, last September.

Van Der Beek said that Olivia's birth helped him realise that the responsibilities of caring for a child strongly outweigh his career aspirations.

"It's changed the trajectory of my life. I feel like before my daughter, my priorities were arranged like a stormy sea - spread out everywhere; different ones popping up at random," he told Da Man magazine. "I was just floating along in the middle of it all.

"The minute my daughter arrived, everything instantly got rearranged like a pyramid, with my daughter and wife at the top, and everything else existing to support that."

Van Der Beek also stressed the importance of taking time away from work to spend quality time with family and other loved ones.

"My wife and daughter get first priority, and then I've also got some great friends who I still try to meet up with as often as I can," the star added.

Van Der Beek and Kimberly celebrate their first wedding anniversary on August 1.

The actor will return to TV this fall in the ABC sitcom Apartment 23, which he recently described as "brilliant".

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