James Van der beek died! 48 yo :(

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They bought the $4.7M farm within the last month (they’d previously been renting it). Why are they asking us regular folk for money again?

Is that really true? That's actually kind of infuriating to be asking for donations if that's true. Ugh.

DP That's what is being reported on TMZ
https://www.tmz.com/2026/02/13/james-van-der-beek-purchased-texas-ranch-before-dying/

The ranch is a massive 36 acres with a 5,149-square-foot main house that features 5 bedrooms and three bathrooms. There's also cabins and a pool on the ranch, plus sweeping views of the Pedernales River.

Ffs. People dumb enough to donate, whatever.

Until he got sick, why wasn't he churning out Hallmark Channel movies? He would have made bank and his widow wouldn't have needed to grift. As it was, he barely worked for 20 years and she didn't work at all. And now people are paying her millions to live a lavish lifestyle? Okay.

Exactly. There’s no reason why he and his wife couldn’t get normal jobs and live in a normal sized house like the majority of the US. He had a better start than most people.

Get a normal job……like you? Is that what’s bothering you so much?

Nothing about this seems off to you? Asking the public for money to fund an affluent lifestyle is perfectly normal and acceptable?

Corporations and politicians do it every day.

Can you provide an example where a corporation or politician is asking for money to openly fund their personal lifestyle expenses while simultaneously offering nothing in return?

I’m sorry, your problem is that they’re doing it openly?

No its that you brought up something completely irrelevant with no examples on why its relevant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They bought the $4.7M farm within the last month (they’d previously been renting it). Why are they asking us regular folk for money again?

Is that really true? That's actually kind of infuriating to be asking for donations if that's true. Ugh.

DP That's what is being reported on TMZ
https://www.tmz.com/2026/02/13/james-van-der-beek-purchased-texas-ranch-before-dying/

The ranch is a massive 36 acres with a 5,149-square-foot main house that features 5 bedrooms and three bathrooms. There's also cabins and a pool on the ranch, plus sweeping views of the Pedernales River.

Ffs. People dumb enough to donate, whatever.

Until he got sick, why wasn't he churning out Hallmark Channel movies? He would have made bank and his widow wouldn't have needed to grift. As it was, he barely worked for 20 years and she didn't work at all. And now people are paying her millions to live a lavish lifestyle? Okay.

Exactly. There’s no reason why he and his wife couldn’t get normal jobs and live in a normal sized house like the majority of the US. He had a better start than most people.

Get a normal job……like you? Is that what’s bothering you so much?

NP: do you think it is wise planning to have no income and no plan for income with 6 kids and an unemployed spouse?

Well, he wasn’t educated and probably didn’t have a normal upbringing.

But yes, most adults should realize that it’s wise to live below your means while socking away money in case life throws you a curveball.

If someone offered me $4M for a house, I’d probably tap $1M and invest the rest.

And as someone with a stressful white collar job with relentless hours, I’m fairly annoyed when a family launches a Go Fund Me or begs more stable relatives for money when the sole provider dies AND the SAHM wants to continue being a SAHM. It’s one thing to ask for help to cover a transition back to the workforce; it’s quite another story when the person never envisions working (ever).

I know women who simply got divorced and had the same expectation of never working. I’m still baffled by women in their 50s and 60s who tell people they are SAHMs…when their kids launched many, many years ago.

It’s obviously sad, but he knew he was sick for a while. If Tori Spelling can downsize to a small place with her brood, then surely anyone can.

And where are the grandparents?

Define normal upbringing. James' father was an executive in the telephone industry, and mom was a dancer and gymnastic teacher. He graduated from Cheshire Academy a college prep private school in Connecticut. The current tuition, room and board is over $69. His alma mater is Drew University, a small Methodist affiliated university. I would not say he was uneducated.

My spouse and my kid both graduated from Drew so I know that Van Der Beek did not - he left when he got the Dawson’s Creek job and never went back. They were all unknown teens so they got sh!tty contracts, the show didn’t last more than five seasons so they didn’t have the opportunity to sign new more lucrative contracts, and apparently they have never received residuals from that show. In a just world Sony Pictures Studios would have covered the costs of his treatment as a thank you for making them the tens of millions the show has made and no one would be in this predicament. I never watched the show but have always thought JVDB seemed like a decent guy (some Drew bias here admittedly) but it seems they made some really poor choices along the way and the GFM is really tacky (as are almost all GFMs IMO.)

He had plenty of negotiating power for his leading role in Friday night lights I’m sure. He was a heart throb in the late 90s/ early 2000s. And as many people pointed out he came from a UMC household in Connecticut and went to a private prep school for high school. He was not without education , family, or opportunity. I have much more sympathy for the young athletes who make a few million right out of college and become broke within 5 years due to greedy family members and zero financial literacy or education (thanks, NCAA football culture). Or for young actors like Selena Gomez or Britney Spears who came from nothing and were exploited as minors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They bought the $4.7M farm within the last month (they’d previously been renting it). Why are they asking us regular folk for money again?

Is that really true? That's actually kind of infuriating to be asking for donations if that's true. Ugh.

DP That's what is being reported on TMZ
https://www.tmz.com/2026/02/13/james-van-der-beek-purchased-texas-ranch-before-dying/

The ranch is a massive 36 acres with a 5,149-square-foot main house that features 5 bedrooms and three bathrooms. There's also cabins and a pool on the ranch, plus sweeping views of the Pedernales River.

Ffs. People dumb enough to donate, whatever.

Until he got sick, why wasn't he churning out Hallmark Channel movies? He would have made bank and his widow wouldn't have needed to grift. As it was, he barely worked for 20 years and she didn't work at all. And now people are paying her millions to live a lavish lifestyle? Okay.

Exactly. There’s no reason why he and his wife couldn’t get normal jobs and live in a normal sized house like the majority of the US. He had a better start than most people.

Get a normal job……like you? Is that what’s bothering you so much?

NP: do you think it is wise planning to have no income and no plan for income with 6 kids and an unemployed spouse?

Well, he wasn’t educated and probably didn’t have a normal upbringing.

But yes, most adults should realize that it’s wise to live below your means while socking away money in case life throws you a curveball.

If someone offered me $4M for a house, I’d probably tap $1M and invest the rest.

And as someone with a stressful white collar job with relentless hours, I’m fairly annoyed when a family launches a Go Fund Me or begs more stable relatives for money when the sole provider dies AND the SAHM wants to continue being a SAHM. It’s one thing to ask for help to cover a transition back to the workforce; it’s quite another story when the person never envisions working (ever).

I know women who simply got divorced and had the same expectation of never working. I’m still baffled by women in their 50s and 60s who tell people they are SAHMs…when their kids launched many, many years ago.

It’s obviously sad, but he knew he was sick for a while. If Tori Spelling can downsize to a small place with her brood, then surely anyone can.

And where are the grandparents?

Define normal upbringing. James' father was an executive in the telephone industry, and mom was a dancer and gymnastic teacher. He graduated from Cheshire Academy a college prep private school in Connecticut. The current tuition, room and board is over $69. His alma mater is Drew University, a small Methodist affiliated university. I would not say he was uneducated.

My spouse and my kid both graduated from Drew so I know that Van Der Beek did not - he left when he got the Dawson’s Creek job and never went back. They were all unknown teens so they got sh!tty contracts, the show didn’t last more than five seasons so they didn’t have the opportunity to sign new more lucrative contracts, and apparently they have never received residuals from that show. In a just world Sony Pictures Studios would have covered the costs of his treatment as a thank you for making them the tens of millions the show has made and no one would be in this predicament. I never watched the show but have always thought JVDB seemed like a decent guy (some Drew bias here admittedly) but it seems they made some really poor choices along the way and the GFM is really tacky (as are almost all GFMs IMO.)

He and/or his wife could have gotten jobs doing work that doesn’t require a degree (many do have health insurance), and lived in a modest house somewhere.

[Anonymous]

I am not reading 25 pages of this thread, the half dozen or so I got through was enough. But (and I hope I'm not the first to make these points):

- I don't really care if the distraught widow set up a go fund me, but
- people who contributed are idiots, and
- more broadly, people who contribute to these things for celebrities are missing a few screws.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They bought the $4.7M farm within the last month (they’d previously been renting it). Why are they asking us regular folk for money again?

Is that really true? That's actually kind of infuriating to be asking for donations if that's true. Ugh.

DP That's what is being reported on TMZ
https://www.tmz.com/2026/02/13/james-van-der-beek-purchased-texas-ranch-before-dying/

The ranch is a massive 36 acres with a 5,149-square-foot main house that features 5 bedrooms and three bathrooms. There's also cabins and a pool on the ranch, plus sweeping views of the Pedernales River.

Ffs. People dumb enough to donate, whatever.

Until he got sick, why wasn't he churning out Hallmark Channel movies? He would have made bank and his widow wouldn't have needed to grift. As it was, he barely worked for 20 years and she didn't work at all. And now people are paying her millions to live a lavish lifestyle? Okay.

Exactly. There’s no reason why he and his wife couldn’t get normal jobs and live in a normal sized house like the majority of the US. He had a better start than most people.

Get a normal job……like you? Is that what’s bothering you so much?

NP: do you think it is wise planning to have no income and no plan for income with 6 kids and an unemployed spouse?

Well, he wasn’t educated and probably didn’t have a normal upbringing.

But yes, most adults should realize that it’s wise to live below your means while socking away money in case life throws you a curveball.

If someone offered me $4M for a house, I’d probably tap $1M and invest the rest.

And as someone with a stressful white collar job with relentless hours, I’m fairly annoyed when a family launches a Go Fund Me or begs more stable relatives for money when the sole provider dies AND the SAHM wants to continue being a SAHM. It’s one thing to ask for help to cover a transition back to the workforce; it’s quite another story when the person never envisions working (ever).

I know women who simply got divorced and had the same expectation of never working. I’m still baffled by women in their 50s and 60s who tell people they are SAHMs…when their kids launched many, many years ago.

It’s obviously sad, but he knew he was sick for a while. If Tori Spelling can downsize to a small place with her brood, then surely anyone can.

And where are the grandparents?

Define normal upbringing. James' father was an executive in the telephone industry, and mom was a dancer and gymnastic teacher. He graduated from Cheshire Academy a college prep private school in Connecticut. The current tuition, room and board is over $69. His alma mater is Drew University, a small Methodist affiliated university. I would not say he was uneducated.

My spouse and my kid both graduated from Drew so I know that Van Der Beek did not - he left when he got the Dawson’s Creek job and never went back. They were all unknown teens so they got sh!tty contracts, the show didn’t last more than five seasons so they didn’t have the opportunity to sign new more lucrative contracts, and apparently they have never received residuals from that show. In a just world Sony Pictures Studios would have covered the costs of his treatment as a thank you for making them the tens of millions the show has made and no one would be in this predicament. I never watched the show but have always thought JVDB seemed like a decent guy (some Drew bias here admittedly) but it seems they made some really poor choices along the way and the GFM is really tacky (as are almost all GFMs IMO.)

He had plenty of negotiating power for his leading role in Friday night lights I’m sure. He was a heart throb in the late 90s/ early 2000s. And as many people pointed out he came from a UMC household in Connecticut and went to a private prep school for high school. He was not without education , family, or opportunity. I have much more sympathy for the young athletes who make a few million right out of college and become broke within 5 years due to greedy family members and zero financial literacy or education (thanks, NCAA football culture). Or for young actors like Selena Gomez or Britney Spears who came from nothing and were exploited as minors.

Pretty sure he was not in Friday Night Lights.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They bought the $4.7M farm within the last month (they’d previously been renting it). Why are they asking us regular folk for money again?

Is that really true? That's actually kind of infuriating to be asking for donations if that's true. Ugh.

DP That's what is being reported on TMZ
https://www.tmz.com/2026/02/13/james-van-der-beek-purchased-texas-ranch-before-dying/

The ranch is a massive 36 acres with a 5,149-square-foot main house that features 5 bedrooms and three bathrooms. There's also cabins and a pool on the ranch, plus sweeping views of the Pedernales River.

Ffs. People dumb enough to donate, whatever.

Until he got sick, why wasn't he churning out Hallmark Channel movies? He would have made bank and his widow wouldn't have needed to grift. As it was, he barely worked for 20 years and she didn't work at all. And now people are paying her millions to live a lavish lifestyle? Okay.

Exactly. There’s no reason why he and his wife couldn’t get normal jobs and live in a normal sized house like the majority of the US. He had a better start than most people.

Get a normal job……like you? Is that what’s bothering you so much?

NP: do you think it is wise planning to have no income and no plan for income with 6 kids and an unemployed spouse?

Well, he wasn’t educated and probably didn’t have a normal upbringing.

But yes, most adults should realize that it’s wise to live below your means while socking away money in case life throws you a curveball.

If someone offered me $4M for a house, I’d probably tap $1M and invest the rest.

And as someone with a stressful white collar job with relentless hours, I’m fairly annoyed when a family launches a Go Fund Me or begs more stable relatives for money when the sole provider dies AND the SAHM wants to continue being a SAHM. It’s one thing to ask for help to cover a transition back to the workforce; it’s quite another story when the person never envisions working (ever).

I know women who simply got divorced and had the same expectation of never working. I’m still baffled by women in their 50s and 60s who tell people they are SAHMs…when their kids launched many, many years ago.

It’s obviously sad, but he knew he was sick for a while. If Tori Spelling can downsize to a small place with her brood, then surely anyone can.

And where are the grandparents?

Define normal upbringing. James' father was an executive in the telephone industry, and mom was a dancer and gymnastic teacher. He graduated from Cheshire Academy a college prep private school in Connecticut. The current tuition, room and board is over $69. His alma mater is Drew University, a small Methodist affiliated university. I would not say he was uneducated.

My spouse and my kid both graduated from Drew so I know that Van Der Beek did not - he left when he got the Dawson’s Creek job and never went back. They were all unknown teens so they got sh!tty contracts, the show didn’t last more than five seasons so they didn’t have the opportunity to sign new more lucrative contracts, and apparently they have never received residuals from that show. In a just world Sony Pictures Studios would have covered the costs of his treatment as a thank you for making them the tens of millions the show has made and no one would be in this predicament. I never watched the show but have always thought JVDB seemed like a decent guy (some Drew bias here admittedly) but it seems they made some really poor choices along the way and the GFM is really tacky (as are almost all GFMs IMO.)

He was an unknown, they took a chance and made him a star. Why would Sony cover the costs of his treatment just because he made them money decades ago. He also wouldn’t have been in financial straits if he had elected to work.

[Anonymous]

It's been a couple of days since he passed, so hopefully this is ok to talk about now, but as a "provider" I never would have made the decision to put a downpayment on a $4.6M home, leaving spouse to figure out the mortgage payments through generosity of others and/or rental income from LA house (what if there's another LA fire and that on burns?). When I first heard about the house purchase, I assumed it was a cash purchase/ paid in full, which, again, wouldn't be my decision, but it would at least put the spouse in a better financial position.

Having a huge mortgage with no income doesn't sound like a good long-term plan, unless the farm is generating income through livestock/leased land/farming etc, which is possible.

[Anonymous]

The Gofund me can pay off the mortgage on the ranch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They bought the $4.7M farm within the last month (they’d previously been renting it). Why are they asking us regular folk for money again?

Is that really true? That's actually kind of infuriating to be asking for donations if that's true. Ugh.

DP That's what is being reported on TMZ
https://www.tmz.com/2026/02/13/james-van-der-beek-purchased-texas-ranch-before-dying/

The ranch is a massive 36 acres with a 5,149-square-foot main house that features 5 bedrooms and three bathrooms. There's also cabins and a pool on the ranch, plus sweeping views of the Pedernales River.

Ffs. People dumb enough to donate, whatever.

Until he got sick, why wasn't he churning out Hallmark Channel movies? He would have made bank and his widow wouldn't have needed to grift. As it was, he barely worked for 20 years and she didn't work at all. And now people are paying her millions to live a lavish lifestyle? Okay.

Exactly. There’s no reason why he and his wife couldn’t get normal jobs and live in a normal sized house like the majority of the US. He had a better start than most people.

Get a normal job……like you? Is that what’s bothering you so much?

NP: do you think it is wise planning to have no income and no plan for income with 6 kids and an unemployed spouse?

Well, he wasn’t educated and probably didn’t have a normal upbringing.

But yes, most adults should realize that it’s wise to live below your means while socking away money in case life throws you a curveball.

If someone offered me $4M for a house, I’d probably tap $1M and invest the rest.

And as someone with a stressful white collar job with relentless hours, I’m fairly annoyed when a family launches a Go Fund Me or begs more stable relatives for money when the sole provider dies AND the SAHM wants to continue being a SAHM. It’s one thing to ask for help to cover a transition back to the workforce; it’s quite another story when the person never envisions working (ever).

I know women who simply got divorced and had the same expectation of never working. I’m still baffled by women in their 50s and 60s who tell people they are SAHMs…when their kids launched many, many years ago.

It’s obviously sad, but he knew he was sick for a while. If Tori Spelling can downsize to a small place with her brood, then surely anyone can.

And where are the grandparents?

Define normal upbringing. James' father was an executive in the telephone industry, and mom was a dancer and gymnastic teacher. He graduated from Cheshire Academy a college prep private school in Connecticut. The current tuition, room and board is over $69. His alma mater is Drew University, a small Methodist affiliated university. I would not say he was uneducated.

Interesting.

I assumed he was a child actor pimped out by his parents.

If he was a prep school kid from an UMC family who was catapulted to fame, then I have no clue why he neglected to invest his money and find a way to make a steady income. And once he got sick, I’m not sure why the couple didn’t focus on planning for a future without him.

Are his parents still alive? Her parents?

It sounds like they are likely financially set insofar as nobody will end up homeless or hungry, and they are just capitalizing on the good will of others to crowd-fund a new bucket of money they probably don’t really need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s sad that people feel the need to comment continually on the go fund me after his death. If you don’t want to donate you don’t have to. You aren’t going to change anyone’s mind with your constant rants over it either. Get a life!

I see this type of response a lot on social media over this. Its not so much about the van der beeks, its more about a ridiculous donation culture that needs to be called out where people are using gofundme as a way to take financial short cuts, taking advantage of people in the process.

Its just like calling out that the absurdity that tipping culture has become. If we stay silent the problem becomes more widespread.

Get real. If your spouse has to die very young to “cut a financial shortcut” that sounds like a pretty shit deal. You should be so lucky, right? I’d rather have decades to work and save than have one of our lives cut short. You lack perspective on this.

DP, but I have a real world example that highlights how people feel when they are asked to donate and then find out there was never a real financial need.

Someone I know IRL lost her husband unexpectedly in his late 40s/early 50s. A GoFundMe was launched by the woman’s sister to cover funeral expenses, housing costs, and college savings. They quickly pulled in over $250k+. (Well north of that actually.)

And then a few months later everyone found out he was heavily insured and already had tons of money invested, etc. They moved into a nicer home, kids were already in private school, etc. A relative with more intimate knowledge said the money wasn’t needed; just a money grab.

As someone who had no idea, I contributed $500—like most of our friends (some gave more). We worried she would struggle to pay bills. Long story short: she’s financially better off than literally everyone who contributed to the GFM. And that’s not cool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Gofund me can pay off the mortgage on the ranch.

But that’s apparently making her house poor. What’s the good decision making in that? She has little kids, so the smart move would have been to downsize and live modestly.

But sounds like the couple liked doing what they liked doing so that’s the basis of decisions.

[Anonymous]

I want to see the GoFubdMe hit 3 million!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They bought the $4.7M farm within the last month (they’d previously been renting it). Why are they asking us regular folk for money again?

Is that really true? That's actually kind of infuriating to be asking for donations if that's true. Ugh.

DP That's what is being reported on TMZ
https://www.tmz.com/2026/02/13/james-van-der-beek-purchased-texas-ranch-before-dying/

The ranch is a massive 36 acres with a 5,149-square-foot main house that features 5 bedrooms and three bathrooms. There's also cabins and a pool on the ranch, plus sweeping views of the Pedernales River.

Ffs. People dumb enough to donate, whatever.

Until he got sick, why wasn't he churning out Hallmark Channel movies? He would have made bank and his widow wouldn't have needed to grift. As it was, he barely worked for 20 years and she didn't work at all. And now people are paying her millions to live a lavish lifestyle? Okay.

Exactly. There’s no reason why he and his wife couldn’t get normal jobs and live in a normal sized house like the majority of the US. He had a better start than most people.

Get a normal job……like you? Is that what’s bothering you so much?

NP: do you think it is wise planning to have no income and no plan for income with 6 kids and an unemployed spouse?

Well, he wasn’t educated and probably didn’t have a normal upbringing.

But yes, most adults should realize that it’s wise to live below your means while socking away money in case life throws you a curveball.

If someone offered me $4M for a house, I’d probably tap $1M and invest the rest.

And as someone with a stressful white collar job with relentless hours, I’m fairly annoyed when a family launches a Go Fund Me or begs more stable relatives for money when the sole provider dies AND the SAHM wants to continue being a SAHM. It’s one thing to ask for help to cover a transition back to the workforce; it’s quite another story when the person never envisions working (ever).

I know women who simply got divorced and had the same expectation of never working. I’m still baffled by women in their 50s and 60s who tell people they are SAHMs…when their kids launched many, many years ago.

It’s obviously sad, but he knew he was sick for a while. If Tori Spelling can downsize to a small place with her brood, then surely anyone can.

And where are the grandparents?

Define normal upbringing. James' father was an executive in the telephone industry, and mom was a dancer and gymnastic teacher. He graduated from Cheshire Academy a college prep private school in Connecticut. The current tuition, room and board is over $69. His alma mater is Drew University, a small Methodist affiliated university. I would not say he was uneducated.

My spouse and my kid both graduated from Drew so I know that Van Der Beek did not - he left when he got the Dawson’s Creek job and never went back. They were all unknown teens so they got sh!tty contracts, the show didn’t last more than five seasons so they didn’t have the opportunity to sign new more lucrative contracts, and apparently they have never received residuals from that show. In a just world Sony Pictures Studios would have covered the costs of his treatment as a thank you for making them the tens of millions the show has made and no one would be in this predicament. I never watched the show but have always thought JVDB seemed like a decent guy (some Drew bias here admittedly) but it seems they made some really poor choices along the way and the GFM is really tacky (as are almost all GFMs IMO.)

He had plenty of negotiating power for his leading role in Friday night lights I’m sure. He was a heart throb in the late 90s/ early 2000s. And as many people pointed out he came from a UMC household in Connecticut and went to a private prep school for high school. He was not without education , family, or opportunity. I have much more sympathy for the young athletes who make a few million right out of college and become broke within 5 years due to greedy family members and zero financial literacy or education (thanks, NCAA football culture). Or for young actors like Selena Gomez or Britney Spears who came from nothing and were exploited as minors.

I think you are thinking ov "Varsity Blues", but I aree with your sentiment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They bought the $4.7M farm within the last month (they’d previously been renting it). Why are they asking us regular folk for money again?

Is that really true? That's actually kind of infuriating to be asking for donations if that's true. Ugh.

DP That's what is being reported on TMZ
https://www.tmz.com/2026/02/13/james-van-der-beek-purchased-texas-ranch-before-dying/

The ranch is a massive 36 acres with a 5,149-square-foot main house that features 5 bedrooms and three bathrooms. There's also cabins and a pool on the ranch, plus sweeping views of the Pedernales River.

Ffs. People dumb enough to donate, whatever.

Until he got sick, why wasn't he churning out Hallmark Channel movies? He would have made bank and his widow wouldn't have needed to grift. As it was, he barely worked for 20 years and she didn't work at all. And now people are paying her millions to live a lavish lifestyle? Okay.

Exactly. There’s no reason why he and his wife couldn’t get normal jobs and live in a normal sized house like the majority of the US. He had a better start than most people.

Get a normal job……like you? Is that what’s bothering you so much?

NP: do you think it is wise planning to have no income and no plan for income with 6 kids and an unemployed spouse?

Well, he wasn’t educated and probably didn’t have a normal upbringing.

But yes, most adults should realize that it’s wise to live below your means while socking away money in case life throws you a curveball.

If someone offered me $4M for a house, I’d probably tap $1M and invest the rest.

And as someone with a stressful white collar job with relentless hours, I’m fairly annoyed when a family launches a Go Fund Me or begs more stable relatives for money when the sole provider dies AND the SAHM wants to continue being a SAHM. It’s one thing to ask for help to cover a transition back to the workforce; it’s quite another story when the person never envisions working (ever).

I know women who simply got divorced and had the same expectation of never working. I’m still baffled by women in their 50s and 60s who tell people they are SAHMs…when their kids launched many, many years ago.

It’s obviously sad, but he knew he was sick for a while. If Tori Spelling can downsize to a small place with her brood, then surely anyone can.

And where are the grandparents?

Define normal upbringing. James' father was an executive in the telephone industry, and mom was a dancer and gymnastic teacher. He graduated from Cheshire Academy a college prep private school in Connecticut. The current tuition, room and board is over $69. His alma mater is Drew University, a small Methodist affiliated university. I would not say he was uneducated.

My spouse and my kid both graduated from Drew so I know that Van Der Beek did not - he left when he got the Dawson’s Creek job and never went back. They were all unknown teens so they got sh!tty contracts, the show didn’t last more than five seasons so they didn’t have the opportunity to sign new more lucrative contracts, and apparently they have never received residuals from that show. In a just world Sony Pictures Studios would have covered the costs of his treatment as a thank you for making them the tens of millions the show has made and no one would be in this predicament. I never watched the show but have always thought JVDB seemed like a decent guy (some Drew bias here admittedly) but it seems they made some really poor choices along the way and the GFM is really tacky (as are almost all GFMs IMO.)

He had plenty of negotiating power for his leading role in Friday night lights I’m sure. He was a heart throb in the late 90s/ early 2000s. And as many people pointed out he came from a UMC household in Connecticut and went to a private prep school for high school. He was not without education , family, or opportunity. I have much more sympathy for the young athletes who make a few million right out of college and become broke within 5 years due to greedy family members and zero financial literacy or education (thanks, NCAA football culture). Or for young actors like Selena Gomez or Britney Spears who came from nothing and were exploited as minors.

Pretty sure he was not in Friday Night Lights.

You’re totally right I meant varsity blues! Sorry

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What bothers everyone about the gofundme, is it was very calculated. It went up quickly after he passed and was obviously intended to grab people while they were emotional. And then to find out about the ranch. The timing of that purchase was also very calculated. And he played on his friends emotional vulnerabilities to make it happen. People feel played. Is it a grift? You have to decide for yourself

Totally agree. A grift imo. Why didn’t they disclose the purchase before they asked for money. I would totally ask for my money back if I had donated.

You would never have donated in the first place though. I seriously doubt any of the donators care that they purchased the ranch a month before he died. All the articles say their friends helped them anyway and now James is dead. People still want to donate. Leave it alone.

Absolutely disagree. You think some average/low people income fan would have donated so a family can live in a 5m house? This is a huge property and very upper end cost for the area. This is really a bad look.