James Van Der Beek and Wife Kimberly Left Los Angeles and Moved Their Kids to Austin After a Series of Heartbreaks

James Van Der Beek and his wife, Kimberly, knew they wanted a different life for their family.

In September 2020, the couple decided to move from Los Angeles to Austin, Texas, during a period marked by the pandemic and major personal changes. Van Der Beek later reflected on the transition in an Instagram post, sharing images of their empty home in Beverly Hills.

“Sometimes a fuller life begins with an empty house,” he wrote, expressing gratitude for the friends and memories they made in Los Angeles as they headed toward “the next big adventure.”

After leaving California, the family set off on a weeks-long road trip, documenting their journey and stops along the way. At the Grand Canyon, Van Der Beek reflected on returning as an adult and being reminded of how small and temporary life can feel.

During another stop in New Mexico, he shared a moment of awe watching a paraglider soar through the sky, noting that the move was tied to the kind of environment he wanted for his children.

As the trip continued, he also shared a more personal reflection about what freedom meant to him. He wrote that he once believed freedom was having the things he dreamed of, and later believed it was having no attachments at all. Over time, he said, he began to see freedom differently: as the courage to love fully and to put what matters most first.

When the family arrived in Texas, he said it felt like they had landed where they belonged. In the caption of another post, he described a difficult stretch leading up to the move, including two late-term pregnancy losses that resulted in hospital stays for Kimberly, a frightening health scare that turned out not to be cancer, professional betrayal, public disappointment, and the death of his mother—alongside the broader upheaval of the shutdowns.

Despite it all, he wrote that the upheaval helped reshape their priorities and led them to Texas, where he said he felt “overflowing with profound gratitude.”

Two years after settling in, Van Der Beek described the move as grounding and centering for both him and his children—Olivia, Joshua, Annabel, Emilia, Gwendolyn, and Jeremiah. He said the quieter pace and closeness to nature gave them a kind of education they couldn’t replicate in a classroom.

He described how living in a more natural setting made the family more aware of things like the moon’s phases and the changing seasons, and how daily life shifted with the weather—especially in Texas, where mornings might be the best time to be outside before the heat sets in.

He added that the experience encouraged practical thinking and gave the children more room to explore and play—running outdoors, building shelters, and even making a morning fire—moments he said have been especially meaningful for the family.