James Van Der Beek broke down during wife's labour

James Van Der Beek broke down in tears during his wife's labour.

The former 'Dawson's Creek' star's wife Kimberly Brook gave birth to baby Olivia in September and James admitted there was one point when his wife's 15 hour labour proved to be too traumatic for him.

The 33-year-old actor said: "It's not easy to watch the person you love go through that. At one point in the middle, I had to excuse myself and secretly take 20 seconds in the bathroom to break down, wipe my eyes, beat my chest and man up for her. There's a reason they don't let men give birth."

Kimberly - who started dating James in July 2009, one month after he separated from first wife Heather McComb - admitted the labour was so difficult that there came a stage when she thought she was going to faint.

She told Britain's OK! magazine: "Once we got to the hospital, it took 15 hours before she arrived. It was the four and a half hours of pushing that was the hard part. I got to the point where I thought I might literally pass out while my body was uncontrollably pushing."