Robert Irwin, Witney Carson reunite for first time after ‘Dancing with the Stars’
‘Dancing With the Stars’ season 34 champions Robert Irwin and Witney Carson reunited at Australia Zoo. (ABC News)
Dancing with the Stars season 34 champions Robert Irwin and Witney Carson are reuniting for the first time since winning the Len Goodman Mirrorball Trophy in November.
Pro dancer Carson and her family traveled over 10,000 miles to the land down under to meet with Irwin, a conservationist, at his home turf in Australia Zoo and gave Good Morning America an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the reunion.
Irwin gave Carson and her family, including her two young sons, a tour through the zoo grounds, and introduced them to local residents, including crocodiles, elephants, giraffes, koalas and turtles.
“Australia Zoo is very much a sanctuary,” Irwin told GMA. “We really value that one-on-one kind of experience with animals.”
Irwin said he drew inspiration from the animals at the Australia Zoo during his time on Dancing with theStars.
“I would always relate dance moves back to an animal,” said Irwin. “I’d always be talking about that. And so, after being in that world of dance, then to bring you guys into my world, it’s like it all kind of, you had context then, all of a sudden.”
During this reunion trip, Irwin and Carson took the opportunity to celebrate their big win and even recreated their first ballroom dance together. Irwin added that his experience on Dancing with the Stars was transformative.
“I feel as though the experience on a personal level enabled me to heal parts of myself and my own journey that I’ve never actually addressed before,” Irwin said.
Irwin added that since wrapping up his time on Dancing with the Stars, he feels like he has “gained this new family in America” and called Carson “an honorary Australian.”
James Van Der Beek arrives at the premiere of Prime Video series ‘Overcompensating’ at Hollywood Palladium on May 14, 2025, in Los Angeles, California. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
James Van Der Beek, the actor best known for starring in the teen TV drama Dawson’s Creek and films including Varsity Blues, has died. He was 48.
“Our beloved James David Van Der Beek passed peacefully this morning. He met his final days with courage, faith, and grace,” reads a note posted on Van Der Beek’s Instagram page. “There is much to share regarding his wishes, love for humanity and the sacredness of time. Those days will come. For now we ask for peaceful privacy as we grieve our loving husband, father, son, brother, and friend.”
Van Der Beek revealed in a November 2024 Instagram post that he’d been diagnosed with cancer, stating that despite the diagnosis he was “in a good place and feeling strong.”
Later that month, the actor further revealed to People that he was battling Stage 3 colorectal cancer. Van Der Beek shared that he received the diagnosis after a colonoscopy.
In December 2024, Van Der Beek joined Good Morning America to discuss his mindset and emotional state during his ongoing battle with the disease.
“And thus began the full-time job of having cancer, signing up for all the various medical portals and getting on the phone with insurance and creating appointments. … I was not prepared for just how much of a full-time job that it really is,” Van Der Beek said.
“I’m going to make changes that I never would have made otherwise, that I’m going to look back on in 30 years and say, ‘Thank gGod this happened.’ So, what can I do right now in order to make that the case? And that’s how it was, about 90 percent of the time,” he went on. “But 10 percent of the time, I was a sobbing, terrified mess, which I feel like is a pretty good percentage.”
Born March 8, 1977, in Cheshire, Connecticut, Van Der Beek began acting while in middle school and made his professional debut at age 16 in a 1993 off-Broadway production in New York City. He continued to appear in various amateur and professional productions throughout high school and while attending New Jersey’s Drew University.
It was while he was a student at Drew in 1998 that Van Der Beek auditioned for and won the title role of Dawson Leery in The WB network’s new show Dawson’s Creek. Van Der Beek dropped out of Drew University to star in the show for the whole of its six-year run, opposite fellow cast members and future stars Katie Holmes, Michelle Williams and Joshua Jackson.
“That was when life was at its craziest,” Van Der Beek said about his time on the hit show in a 2020 interview with Good Morning America. “At 20 years old I got stupidly lucky and found myself in a zeitgeist, cultural phenomenon TV show, and I was suddenly famous.”
Van Der Beek also admitted his sudden stardom was difficult to handle. “My reaction to fame was to run away from it,” he said, though looking back he said he would tell his younger self to “relax, be grateful, enjoy it.”
Despite having already begun a small film career with roles in films like the 1996 romantic drama I Love You, I Love You Not, which also starred Claire Danes, Julia Stiles and Jude Law, Van Der Beek’s Dawson’s Creek fame earned him the headlining role in the 1999 coming-of-age sports drama Varsity Blues. Van Der Beek’s character of Jonathan “Mox” Moxon, the backup quarterback on a small-town Texas high school football team, remains the film performance for which he’s best remembered. It also earned him the best breakout male performance award at the 1999 MTV Movie Awards.
“It was a movie I really, really cared about, it was a role I really cared about,” Van Der Beek told Good Morning America. “It was a role I really had to fight for. I had to fight for that role, nobody wanted me for that role initially.”
The success of Varsity Blues led to roles in other films, including 2000’s horror film send-up Scary Movie, in which Van Der Beek made a cameo appearance as his Dawson’s Creek character, the 2001 Western Texas Rangers and the 2002 dark comedy Rules of Attraction. Later film roles included the 2009 thriller Formosa Betrayed, 2013’s Labor Day with Kate Winslet and Josh Brolin, and the 2019 comedy Jay and Silent Bob Reboot.
Yet Van Der Beek remained a larger small-screen presence, appearing on dozens of hit TV shows over the years in starring or guest roles, including How I Met Your Mother, Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23, One Tree Hill,Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, CSI: Cyber and Modern Family, as well as providing the voice of Boris Hauntley on the Disney animated children’s series Vampirina. Van Der Beek also placed fifth on season 28 of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars in 2019. In 2025, he was announced as a recurring character on the Legally Blonde prequel series Elle.
In September 2025, the cast of Dawson’s Creekreunited for a one-night-only live reading of the show’s pilot episode to raise money for the nonprofit F Cancer and for Van Der Beek. A stomach virus prevented him from attending in person — Tony winner Lin-Manuel Miranda stepped into the role of Dawson Leery in Van Der Beek’s place — but he shared a video message in which he thanked those who attended and shared his disappointment for not being unable to “stand on that stage and thank every soul in the theater for showing up for me, and against cancer, when I needed it most.”
Van Der Beek was married twice. He’s survived by his wife, film producer Kimberly Van Der Beek, and their six children.
Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie on the ‘Wuthering Heights’ poster. (Alon Amir/Warner Bros. Pictures)
Wuthering Heights was the box office champ over the long holiday weekend.
The film, starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, earned $38 million domestically over the Presidents’ Day holiday to debut at #1, according to Box Office Mojo.
The animated sports comedy GOAT, featuring the voices of Stephen Curry, David Harbour, Gabrielle Union and more, earned a solid #2 debut, bringing in $35 million, while the Chris Hemsworth/Halle Berry crime thriller Crime 101 debuted at #3 with $16.37 million.
The only other new movie to land in the top 10 this weekend was action-adventure comedy Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die, starring Sam Rockwell and Haley Lu Richardson, which brought in $4.15 million to debut at #7.
Here are the top 10 films at the box office:
1. Wuthering Heights — $38 million 2. GOAT — $35 million 3. Crime 101 — $16.37 million 4. Send Help — $10.4 million 5. Solo Mio — $7.4 million 6. Zootopia 2 — $5 million 7. Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die – $4.15 million 8. Avatar: Fire and Ash — $3.91 million 9. Iron Lung –$3.7 million 10. Dracula — $3.56 million
George Clooney attends ‘BFI Presents: George Clooney in conversation’ at BFI Southbank on Nov. 21, 2025, in London, England. (Joe Maher/Getty Images for BFI)
The Golden Globes has revealed its lineup of presenters ahead of Sunday’s 83rd annual awards ceremony.
Presenters include George Clooney, Ayo Edebiri, Charli XCX, Jason Bateman, Jennifer Garner, Joe Keery, Julia Roberts, Macaulay Culkin, Melissa McCarthy, Miley Cyrus, Pamela Anderson, Queen Latifah and Snoop Dogg.
Also on the list to present are Amanda Seyfried, Ana de Armas, Chris Pine, Colman Domingo, DakotaFanning, Dave Franco, Diane Lane, Hailee Steinfeld, Judd Apatow, Justin Hartley, Kathryn Hahn, Keegan-Michael Key, Kevin Bacon, Kevin Hart, Kyra Sedgwick, Lalisa Manobal, Luke Grimes, MarlonWayans, Mila Kunis, Minnie Driver, Orlando Bloom, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Regina Hall, Sean Hayes, Wanda Sykes, Will Arnett and Zoë Kravitz.
Additionally, Heated Rivalry stars Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams are set to present together.
The 2026 Golden Globes will take place Sunday, Jan. 11, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, airing live on CBS and streaming live on Paramount+. Comedian Nikki Glaser is set to host.
One Battle After Another has the most nominations on the film side, with nine nods, while The White Lotus is the top nominee on the TV side, with six.
