‘Curse’ of Dawson’s Creek – including double amputation after horror hit & run and drunken bust-up at hockey game
PACKED with dramatic love triangles, groundbreaking storylines and tragic deaths, Dawson's Creek was the trailblazer for American teen dramas.
But the heartache suffered by its troubled characters appears to have besieged some of the show's cast in real life since it first aired 25 years ago.
The beloved series, which ran for six seasons until 2003, followed the lives of a group of best friends who were students at Capeside High School.
Here we take a look at the difficult challenges its stars have bravely overcome within their own lives.
Shock split
Earlier this year, Joshua Jackson - who played unlucky-in-love Pacey Witter - was reportedly served divorce papers by his wife Jodie Turner-Smith, citing irreconcilable differences.
The actor, 45, married the British model in 2019 after a whirlwind romance.
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E! News reported that the pair have reached a temporary custody agreement over their three-year-old daughter, Janie, who was born in 2020, and there is believed to be a prenuptial agreement in place.
Joshua previously dated his Dawson's Creek co-star and had a 10-year romance with actress Diane Kruger - and he is now said to be seeing Black Panther star Lupita Nyong'o.
Like Pacey, the actor has also had a few brushes with the law.
In 2002 Joshua was arrested at a hockey game in North Carolina after a row with a security guard, and charged with assault, affray and being drunk in public.
Prosecutors agreed to drop the assault charge and he agreed to attend an alcohol education program and perform 24 hours of community service.
Hit and run horror
Surgeons were forced to amputate both his legs after the accident left one completely shattered and the other partially severed.
The driver was accused of fleeing the scene, and was later charged for a string of offences relating to the incident.
Obi - who is also known for his role in Stargate SG-1 - refused to let his injuries hold him back and has gone on to learn how to walk again with the help of prosthetics, and still has a passion for yoga.
Writing on Instagram 16 months after the crash, he wrote: "It’s been a challenge, but we are all dealt unique challenges which hold opportunities to make us stronger."
Accidental overdose
Michelle Williams has gone on to have a hugely successful film career since starring in Dawson's Creek as Jen Lindley, including roles in Hollywood hits Blue Valentine, The Greatest Showman and Manchester by the Sea.
Now 43, Michelle dated actor Heath Ledger for three years from 2004 after meeting on the set of Brokeback Mountain - and it was love at first sight.
Brokeback Mountain screenwriter Diana Ossana said: "I remember him looking at her, and her looking up at him with these wide eyes.
"She was almost startled by the attention. For him, it was truly love at first sight. He was so taken with her."
The couple had a daughter - Matilda, now 17 - before they split, and five months later Heath died, aged 28, from an accidental overdose of prescription painkillers in 2008.
Michelle was devastated, and in an interview years later she admitted: "Matilda is in a good place but it’s not been easy raising her alone. Sometimes it can feel alienating."
She did go on to find love again, and is now married to theatre director Thomas Kail, with whom she shares two children.
Tragic Covid battle
Sadly in 2021 the show's writer Heidi Ferrer also died after a long and agonising battle with Covid.
She allegedly "took her own life" at her home in Los Angeles that May after suffering severe symptoms.
She contracted the virus in April 2020 and "experienced body aches, including severe pains in her feet, fatigue and flu-like symptoms" the reported.
Her screenwriter and director husband Nick Guthe wrote in tribute: "She fought it like she lived, ferociously, but in the end it was relentless and took away everything from her."
Miscarriage agony
James Van Der Beek was a Nineties heartthrob, catapulting to fame as floppy-haired film buff Dawson Leery.
He went on to have a successful TV and film acting career, with roles in shows Criminal Minds, Ugly Betty, Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 and Modern Family.
James, 46, has been married twice - first to actress Heather McComb, for six years.
He wed current wife Kimberly in August 2010, and the couple share six children, aged between 13 and one.
Sadly they have also endured the agonising pain of multiple miscarriages - two quite late on in 2019 and 2020.
Kimberly told Entertainment Tonight: "I've had, actually, five miscarriages total, but the last two were significant in that they hospitalised me. Those were incredibly difficult, emotionally and physically."
High-profile heartbreak
Few can forget the cringe moment Tom Cruise jumped energetically on Oprah Winfrey's chat show sofa declaring his love for Katie Holmes in 2005.
It set the tone for their high-profile whirlwind romance; within a year they were engaged and welcomed daughter Suri, now 17.
They wed in 2006 in a $3m Scientology ceremony, but divorced six years later in 2012 in one of the highest-profile celeb splits of all time.
Katie filed for divorce stating irreconcilable differences, however, it was rumoured the star had grown concerned about Tom's involvement in Scientology and was concerned for their daughter.
It has been reported Suri become estranged from her father and has not seen him in over a decade, with Katie gaining sole custody following the divorce.
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Katie went on to date actor Jamie Foxx, 55, from 2013 to 2019.
It's believed she's currently single after her romance to Bobby Wooten III ended at the end of last year.