‘Dawson’s Creek’ Star Exposes Real-Life Love Triangle That Caused Tension on Set: ‘Worst-Kept Secret’

While many speculated that the love triangle between Dawson (James Van Der Beek), Joey (Katie Holmes) and Pacey (Joshua Jackson) spilled off the set of Dawson’s Creek into real life, a new memoir is shedding light on the rumors.

In an excerpt from Kerr Smith‘s book, I Don’t Want To Wait, which was obtained by the Daily Mail and published Tuesday, November 10, Smith, 49, called the “meta” romance “between James, Josh and a certain Joey Potter look-alike” the “worst-kept secret at Dawson’s Creek.”

While Smith, who joined the show as Jack McPhee in season 2, stopped short of naming Holmes, fans of the beloved 1990s drama could easily connect the dots, suggesting that the aforementioned tryst made its way off the pages of the show’s script.

Holmes, 47, for her part, has neither confirmed nor denied having a relationship with the late Van Der Beek in the more than two decades since the show aired, but she did openly date Jackson, 48, for one year.

Discussing the rumored love triangle in his memoir, Smith also detailed the fallout, with the on-set stress between the former roommates leading to an awkward work environment.

“Those simmering tensions had a way of making the on-set air feel slightly charged, even on the most ordinary days, into season two and beyond,” the Final Destination star wrote. “I arrived on the show to find the tension between James and Josh already in place — low-grade, unspoken, known to everyone.”

Still, Smith stressed, the actors kept things professional at work, noting, however, that Van Der Beek and Jackson largely ignored each other off set.

“I can’t recall a single conversation between them. They didn’t hang out. They didn’t interact off set,” Smith wrote. “It wasn’t dramatic, and it didn’t get in the way of anything that mattered. It was simply… a thing that existed.”

Smith described the feud as unnecessary and immature, revealing that Van Der Beek’s onscreen mother, Mary-Margaret Humes, who reportedly viewed the situation as “life imitating art,” eventually stepped in to help put an end to the tension.

Things came to a head one night when Jackson invited his castmates and crew to a private screening of his new movie, the 2000 thriller The Skulls, which centered on an Ivy League secret society.

Van Der Beek wanted nothing to do with the event and called Humes, 72, that morning to tell her he wouldn’t be attending. But she wasn’t about to let him sit this one out. Instead, she insisted on picking him up and driving him there herself.

“On the drive over, Mary-Margaret made her case,” Smith wrote. “They were still early into the run of the show; they had what they hoped — and, frankly, expected — would be a long road ahead.”

“This was a passing phase, and sometimes you just have to be the bigger man and show up,” he added of Humes’ plea.

Van Der Beek ultimately took her advice, and according to Smith, his decision to attend appeared to change the atmosphere between the costars.

“Crew member after crew member made their way over to James, offering attaboy handshakes, backslaps and bro-hugs. ‘Good to see ya here, buddy.’ ‘Really glad you made it out.’ ‘Wouldn’t have been the same without ya,'” Smith recalled.

Even Jackson made a point of approaching Van Der Beek to thank him for coming, he noted.

The moment, Smith wrote, was described by Humes as “the beginning of the healing process for them” and, as many fans know, the turning point in what ended up being a long-lasting friendship.