Make Page Six a Preferred Source Joshua Jackson and James Van Der Beek stopped speaking over a “complicated” real-life love triangle with their “Dawson’s Creek” co-star Katie Holmes, according to their former cast member.
Kerr Smith, who played Jack McPhee on the hit show, confirmed the long-rumored romance in his “I Don’t Want to Wait” memoir, published Tuesday.
He dubbed Van Der Beek, Jackson and Holmes’ “rather meta” dynamic — as the stars whose respective characters Dawson Leery, Pacey Witter and Joey Potter were in a love triangle — the beloved series’ “worst-kept secret.”
Kerr, 54, recalled, “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.
“I arrived on the show to find the tension between James and Josh already in place — low-grade, unspoken, known to everyone,” he continued.
The former soap star, who joined the show in 1998, told readers he could not recall witnessing a “single conversation” between Van Der Beek and Jackson.
“They didn’t hang out,” he alleged. “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.”
Kerr noted that this was a far cry from Van Der Beek and Jackson being roommates and close friends before he joined the cast.
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Reps for Holmes, Jackson and Van Der Beek did not immediately respond to Page Six’s requests for comment.
While Holmes and Jackson’s romance, which lasted from 1998 to 1999, is common knowledge, the actress and Van Der Beek never confirmed a past romance.
The “Varsity Blues” actor, who died in February at 48, was asked directly in 2024 whether he dated Holmes — and he cryptically replied, “What happens in the creek stays in the creek.”
A report surfaced in February alleging he and Holmes were together “for a bit,” with a source telling 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.”
Jackson and Holmes have remained amicable post-split, even reuniting last year to film their “Happy Hours” dramedy.
At the time, Holmes made headlines for “liking” social media comments requesting she and her ex get back together.
When Van Der Beek lost his battle to cancer earlier this year, Holmes honored him by posting an Instagram reflection on their “adventures of a unique youth.”
She wrote, “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, meanwhile, described the “formative experience” on the “Whine Down” podcast in 2025, confessing he and his former co-stars had “f–k you and don’t talk to me” moments post-show and did not speak for years.
However, he clarified that Van Der Beek’s diagnosis got the “whole gang … reconnected.”
The “Pose” alum is survived by widow Kimberly Van Der Beek and their six kids.
Holmes has one child — daughter Suri, 20, with ex Tom Cruise — as does Jackson, who co-parents daughter Juno, 6, with ex Jodie Turner-Smith.
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