James Van Der Beek Tears Up as He Talks 'Emotional Gut Punch' of Wife's Pregnancy Loss

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James Van Der Beek is reflecting on the extremely emotional moment when his wife experienced a pregnancy loss in 2019.

PEOPLE has an exclusive preview of Thursday's episode of Peggy Rometo and Kimberly Van Der Beek's podcast Bathroom Chronicles — recorded in the bathroom cabin at the Van Der Beek ranch — where James shares new details about his wife's pregnancy loss, which came while he was competing on season 28 of Dancing with the Stars.

James notes it was two nights before the semi-finals when Kimberly had a miscarriage at 17½ weeks (the couple experienced a second pregnancy loss in June 2020). The family was watching TV together when Kimberly said she "felt off" and moments later was in the shower where she experienced the miscarriage.

"It was just so much pain, and it was so unexpected because everything was right, everything was fairy tale. Everything was coming together perfectly," James recalls. "It progressed very quickly into being worried about Kim. we were both just crying and sobbing and there was a lot of blood. Way more blood than any delivery."

"And then Kim lied down in the shower and then wasn't waking up. So that's when I called 911," he continues.

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RELATED: James Van Der Beek Reflects on Experiencing 2 Pregnancy Losses: 'Healing Comes at Its Own Pace'

Rometo had also come to the house to help and the Beverly Hills emergency team followed. As Kimberly kept losing consciousness, the emergency team decided to take Kimberly to the hospital.

James stayed home while Rometo went with Kimberly as he felt his kids "needed one parent home." At the time, Kimberly and James had five kids, Gwendolyn, 4, Emilia, 6, Annabel, 9, Olivia, 12, and sons Joshua, 10. They have since welcomed son Jeremiah, 15 months.

"You were gone. The ambulance had taken you away. I got Gwen back to bed. And I'm just sitting there in a bathroom full of blood," James recalls. "And, dead little baby on the counter. It was just a gut punch, an emotional gut punch."

Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Kimberly and James Van Der Beek

The following week, the actor, 46, revealed on DWTS that Kimberly had lost their then-sixth baby on the way.

"My wife Kimberly and I went through every expecting parent's worst nightmare. We lost the baby," he said at the time. "The little soul that we had expected to welcome into our family took a shortcut to whatever lies beyond."

"You never know why these things happen, that's what I've been telling my kids. All you know is that it brings you closer together, it breaks you open, it opens your heart, it deepens your appreciation," he added "It makes you more human."

Although he admitted that he didn't think he'd be dancing that night, he chose to compete for Kimberly, who pushed him to continue in the competition.