The late Dawson’s Creek star James Van Der Beek‘s widow, Kimberly, joined a slew of stars in supporting influencer Nara Smith amid her 2-year-old daughter’s cancer battle.
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“Honoring you and your fortitude as you have embarked on the unimaginable journey that cancer is,” Kimberly, 44, commented on Smith’s Instagram post revealing her daughter Whimsy’s diagnosis on Wednesday, July 1.
Kimberly recently lost her husband James at age 48 in February following a very public fight against stage III colorectal cancer.
On Tuesday, June 30, Nara shared that she and her husband, model Lucky Blue Smith, learned that Whimsy had cancer “late last year” after taking her to a pediatrician to have “something suspicious” on her body examined.
“When we took her into our pediatrician, I just remember him going really quiet and calm … My heart dropped in that moment,” she explained to viewers. “I don’t know whether it was my gut telling me something or just a mom’s intuition, but the first thing that I felt was she has cancer.”
The influencer went on, “After a lot of X-rays, ultrasounds and finally a biopsy, they immediately called us and said that she had cancer, told us it had spread and that she needs to come and start chemo treatments immediately,”
In light of her announcement, many of Nara’s famous friends and followers sent their best wishes in the Instagram reel’s comment section.
Influencer Emilie Kiser – who lost her 3-year-old son Trigg in a pool accident in May 2025 – wrote to Nara, “I’m so sorry Nara❤️🩹 Sending you so much comfort and love, along with sweet Whimsy. You’re amazing and so strong.”
“My beautiful superwoman friend ❤️❤️🩹,” singer Raye replied, with model Elsa Hosk adding, “My angel I’m so so sorry. Sending you so much love and praying so hard for whimsy❤️🩹”
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Black Love host Khadeen Ellis wrote to the influencer, “Nara- when one mother is met with such a situation, we all feel it. Sending loads of love & prayers for you all- and for Whimsy Lou’s complete recovery❤️🩹🙏🏽”
“Sending all my love and prayers your family’s way🫶🏽🤍beyond sorry to hear this you sweet soul,” model and influencer Kendra Bailey responded to Nara.
Model Zoe Brown also chimed in, “I’m so sorry this is happening to your daughter, praying for her “
Thousands of others sent support in the reel’s comment section, including former The Real cohost Jeannie Mai posting multiple “heart” emojis.
In her original post, Nara explained that she will likely be less active on social media in the near future as she remains focused on Whimsy’s health and wellbeing.
“A lot of you have probably realized that I’ve been posting a little less and this is the reason why,” she said. “Having found all of this out and navigating this while postpartum, also loving and caring for our other kids at home, also being in the hospital with Whimsy a lot and balancing work on top of that has been really challenging.”
Aside from Whimsy, Nara and Lucky share daughter Rumble Honey, 5, son Slim Easy, 4, and 9-month-old daughter Fawnie Golden. (Lucky is also a father to daughter Gravity, who he shares with ex Stormi Bree.)
Nara rose to fame on social media in 2024 as the face of the internet’s “trad wife” movement, which promotes traditional, conservative stay-at-home mom duties. (Nara later insisted that there was nothing “traditional” about her and Lucky’s marriage.)
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This story was originally published July 1, 2026 at 8:06 PM.