James Van Der Beek met his wife, Kimberly (Brook) Van Der Beek, during a group trip to Israel in 2009, when she literally walked up and interrupted a conversation he was having with a friend in Tel Aviv about wanting to find a real partner and start a family.

How Did James Van Der Beek Meet His Wife?

The first encounter in Israel

  • In 2009, James joined an organized group trip to Israel, shortly after his first marriage had ended.
  • While in Tel Aviv, he was talking with a friend, explaining that he was done being single and wanted a genuine relationship and a family.
  • In the middle of that heartfelt moment, Kimberly approached and interrupted their conversation to ask his friend a question.
  • James later joked that he was initially annoyed at “who was stepping all over my moment” until he turned around and saw it was Kimberly.

From “not looking” to inseparable

  • When James asked Kimberly what she was looking for in a relationship a few days later, she replied that she wasn’t looking for a relationship at all.
  • Despite that, things moved quickly: about six months later, they were living together and expecting their first child.
  • Their story has often been described in interviews and features as a serendipitous, almost “meant to be” encounter that completely changed both of their lives.

The whirlwind wedding

  • James and Kimberly married on August 1, 2010, in Tel Aviv, not far from where they first met on that same trip.
  • The ceremony was intimate and relatively simple, reportedly held in the basement of a Kabbalah center, aligning with a date and officiant Kimberly had long envisioned.
  • James publicly celebrated the marriage by posting that “the woman I love did me the honor of becoming my wife today” and that he looked forward to the rest of their life together.

Little “rom‑com” details fans love

  • Kimberly has spoken about having “psychic dreams,” and James has playfully said he was literally the man from her dreams.
  • The timing of their meeting—right after his realization that he wanted a soul mate and family—gets framed in many articles as a real‑life rom‑com twist.
  • Within roughly a year of that first interruption in Tel Aviv, they had moved in together, were expecting a baby, and were officially married.

“Latest news” and current context

  • Recent pieces looking back on James and Kimberly’s relationship highlight that their love story is often cited as one of the most heartfelt arcs to come out of late‑’90s/early‑2000s TV stardom, especially for Dawson’s Creek fans following him into his family‑man era.
  • Coverage up through early 2026 continues to reference that original Israel trip as the key turning point in his personal life and the start of his large family with Kimberly.

TL;DR: James Van Der Beek met his wife Kimberly on a 2009 group trip to Israel, when she randomly interrupted him mid‑speech in Tel Aviv as he told a friend he was ready to find “a real relationship” and build a family—an interruption that turned into a whirlwind romance, cohabiting and pregnancy within months, and a wedding in Tel Aviv about a year later.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.