James Van Der Beek has expressed his thoughts after being rushed into revealing that he has colorectal cancer.
In an Instagram post, the Dawson's Creek alum apologised to his loved ones who had to learn about his diagnosis via the media.
"Apologies to all the people in my life who I'd planned on telling myself. Nothing about this process has occurred on my preferred timeline," he wrote.
"There's no playbook for how to announce these things, but I'd planned on talking about it at length with People magazine at some point soon, to raise awareness and tell my story on my own terms. But that plan had to be altered early this morning when I was informed that a tabloid was going to run with the news."
Detailing that he has "been dealing with this privately until now", the actor continued, "I'm in a good place and feeling strong. It's been quite the initiation, and I'll tell you more when I'm ready."
Next month, Van Der Beek is set to appear in The Real Full Monty, a two-hour TV special where a group of male celebrities - also including actor Taye Diggs, Kansas City Chiefs footballer Chris Jones and Dancing with the Stars judge Bruno Tonioli - strip down to raise awareness for prostate, testicular and colorectal cancer testing and research.
Inspired by the Oscar-nominated 1997 film The Full Monty, The Real Full Monty is set to premiere on 9 December.