James Van Der Beek's widow Kimberly shares photo of late actor with daughter Emilia in honor of 10th birthday

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Kimberly Van Der Beek has paid a heartfelt tribute to her late husband James Van Der Beek while celebrating their daughter Emilia’s 10th birthday.

The Dawson’s Creek actor passed away at the age of 48 on February 11 at his home in Austin, Texas following a battle with cancer.

On Thursday, the 44-year-old mother of six shared a rare Instagram Stories photo showing James holding his daughter close.

In the touching image, the actor was dressed in a fur-lined jacket, sweater and cap as he leaned into Emilia, who wrapped her arms around his shoulders and smiled softly in an oversized sweatshirt.

Alongside the post, Kimberly wrote: ‘Just a few heavenly months ago. Missing you my love.’

The tribute comes weeks after Emilia moved fans with a video in which she spoke about her grief over losing her father.

She shared the clip on what would have been James Van Der Beek’s 49th birthday on Sunday, March 8.

Reflecting on her father’s first birthday since his passing, Emilia said: ‘I know that my dad’s in a good place. He’s not in pain anymore.’ 

Kimberly, who was married to the actor since 2010, posted her daughter's video alongside a lengthy caption - after sharing her own birthday tribute to her late husband on the same day.

'Emilia asked me if she could make a video to post today, walked outside and came back with this,' Kimberly wrote alongside her daughter's self-taped video. 

'In my stories are a whole lot of photos and some videos,' the mother-of-six continued. 

'All I want to do is watch videos of him right now with the kids. Thank you for the tremendous heart, love and support for the family.'

She added emojis of a pink heart and a teary-eyed smile as she addressed her late husband: 'James... We will celebrate March 8th every day for the rest of our lives.'

Emilia is the fourth child out of six Van Der Beek welcomed with Kimberly during their longtime marriage. 

The late actor and his wife are also parents to Olivia, Joshua, Annabel, in addition to Emilia, as well as Gwendolyn and Jeremiah. 

The video showed the late star's young daughter sitting outside and wearing an oversize trucker cap, which she later explained she 'stole' from her dad to remember him.

In the emotional video, Emilia began by addressing the public as she expressed her grief. 

'As you will probably know, my dad has passed away,' she said before adding that she wanted to share 'little tips' to help other people '[get] through anybody you love passing.' 

'So today is my dad's birthday, and the number one thing for somebody's passing is to talk to them and let your emotions out,' she said. 

'If you miss them, you can cry. You can talk to them. I talk to my dad every day,' she continued.

'I start with a sentence, and I say, "Hi, Dad. I miss you and I love you so much, and I'll never stop loving you." 

'I just tell him about my day, how I'm feeling, and I told my family how I'm feeling,' Emilia added. 'And I know he can hear me, but I can't hear him.' 

She opened up about how she is processing her grief in the wake of his death as she said: 'You have to feel them in your heart, because they're in your heart. 

'They're watching over you,' she added. 'They're a part of your body and in a good place. I know that my dad's in a good place. He's not in pain anymore. He's in heaven above the clouds with God and the Lord.' 

Addressing other people who have also lost a loved one, she said it is okay to 'be happy they're in a good place' but still 'be sad because you miss them.' 

'Everybody has different emotions in their body, and they express it in different ways. Many, many different ways. And don't let anybody tell you that. Be like, "No, you don't know how I feel."' 

She also shared advice that her father once gave her in the heartfelt, minutes-long video. 

'Something my dad told me was if this doesn't work out the way he wanted it to and the way we wanted it to for him living, I still have to believe in miracles,' she said. 'Miracles can still happen, just later on in life, and they'll keep coming.' 

To remember her father, she said that one of the things she did was how she 'stole his hat.' 'My dad's hat smells like him, and I love it so much,' she mused. 

'I know that he was a good man. A lot of people loved him, and people prayed for him, and he was loved by ... many, many people,' she said before giving a shoutout to those who donated to the GoFundMe to raise money for her family.