Tyler Posey recalls how James Van Der Beek told ‘The Real Full Monty’ cast that he has cancer: ‘Just talking about it now chokes me up’

Tyler Posey felt a “whirlwind of emotion” when James Van Der Beek revealed his cancer diagnosis to The Real Full Monty cast.

The co-stars, along with Anthony Anderson, Taye Diggs and Bruno Tonioli, all signed on to do Fox’s two-hour special — in which male celebrities bare all to raise awareness for prostate, testicular and colorectal cancer testing — for very different, very personal reasons. When Posey shared his with the group — his mother died 10 years ago after a stage IV cancer diagnosis — it prompted Van Der Beek to reveal to them for the first time that he had quietly been diagnosed with stage III colorectal cancer.

“We all had dinner and were sharing our own connections and experiences,” Posey, 33, told Yahoo Entertainment. “I was talking about my mom and reiterating that it’s good to get screened early, before you have any symptoms, because sometimes … it could be too late, which was my mom’s experience. Then James started sharing his story and it was this whirlwind of emotion.”

Posey admitted he felt bad at first for how it played out.

“I was like, ‘Shit.’ I just said: ‘If you catch it late, it’s too late,’” he recalled. “I immediately apologized. I said, ‘James, I didn’t mean for that to be harsh.’ He said, ‘No, you’re right. That’s why we’re doing the show, so that we can inspire people to get screened early.”

Posey, who rose to stardom on MTV’s Teen Wolf, said he has “the utmost respect” for the Dawson’s Creek alum, who went public with his diagnosis on Nov. 3 and is in the middle of cancer treatments.

“I have respected him ever since I was a kid, but hearing that — and then knowing that he’s still here with us doing this — I don’t know if I would do that if I were in his position. I really don’t know,” he said. “I admire him for going along with this, not backing down, and also having this easygoing attitude this entire time. He’s really strong. Just talking about it now chokes me up.”

Posey said even Anderson, who’s executive producing the special as well, didn’t know about Van Der Beek’s diagnosis.

“None of us knew,” Posey said. “It’s kind of a serendipitous thing for him to even be asked” to do the show in the first place.

The special encourages men to strip the stigma around those cancers and get checked. It follows the stars as they discuss the health issues and then rehearse for the revealing performance. The special, based on one that first aired in the United Kingdom, culminates with them getting fully naked on stage in front of a live audience.

“The whole purpose is saying: We are getting naked in front of millions of people. You can do it in front of your doctor and get checked out,” said Posey, who recently underwent a preventive full-body MRI scan to check for cancer. “The concept really hit home for me. It’s just to save people’s lives.”

Posey said it was “extremely liberating” being nude in front of thousands of people, especially in the United States, where “there’s a lot of taboo tied to being naked and your body and body-shaming and wanting to look the best you can.”

His approach was to think about “where I was in my life,” said the actor, who can also be seen in the film Queen of the Ring, which is playing in select theaters. “I wasn’t working out when I got the call and I didn’t then go to the gym and try to look good. I didn’t want to care about that because that’s not what it was about. It wasn’t about my looks or, you know, what the downstairs looks like.”

It was also scary, he admitted. “I’ve done plenty of naked scenes and for the most part, there’s some sort of nude underwear or coverage. So this raised the stakes in so many different ways: the nervousness, the excitement, the push and pull of ‘I want to do this, but I’m also very scared.’”

He continued, “I just commend all of the men who were a part of this. It’s very brave in a way. We’re public figures and we actually got naked in front of a live theater. You would assume that you’re not actually naked — they can’t show it [all] on Fox — but we really were.”

On Dec. 12, Posey will mark the 10 years since his mom, Cyndi, died at age 55 from breast cancer.

“Every year is a new experience for me,” he said of the grief. “I go with my gut on it and don’t push anything away. I don’t hide. I’m sober [since 2020]. I’m taking everything in as it comes. I’m going to be present. I’m going to visit her headstone, it’s a beautiful plot, meditate and just try to feel as much as I can.”

The Real Full Monty airs Dec. 9 at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.

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