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.

Anonymous wrote:I got the sense that this was his dying wish - to have his family financially covered and to stay on that land because of the happy memories. Maybe he secured the purchase without running it by her? It sounds like his friends helped secure the down payment, and put the house in a trust. Not trying to debate that this was right/wrong. Just a thought as to why the Gofundme was poorly worded.

But if there truly is no financial security going forward, securing a mortgage on a very large plot is yet another poor decision. A modest home with shared bedrooms would have been far wiser. Of course you want few changes, but if you didn’t plan ahead, things likely have to change.

Who thinks it is a good idea to hit friends up to help you secure a downpayment on a sprawling piece of property? You downsize, economize, etc. if you wanted to ask others for help, you pay outright with their help for a small property.

I got the sense that this was his dying wish - to have his family financially covered and to stay on that land because of the happy memories. Maybe he secured the purchase without running it by her? It sounds like his friends helped secure the down payment, and put the house in a trust. Not trying to debate that this was right/wrong. Just a thought as to why the Gofundme was poorly worded.

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

Seems like the people who are mad are the ones who didn’t donate anyway. You could just donate your own money to worthy causes to feel better about it.

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

I don’t understand the financial supporting of another’s life choices when they are contrary to most mainstream ideas:

- you are able bodied, young and with kids, so you work

- you don’t get payments from other sources from prior work (residuals, royalties, etc), so you work

- you don’t move and pay rent on a large piece of property when you have money issues (announced publicaly re: selling off memorabilia)

- you don’t have 6 kids with no income stream

- you don’t have financial plans for the future

- you don’t secure a mortgage and have a downpayment on a large piece of property that will be expensive to maintain and need a lot of helping, experienced hands when you have 6 kids and no income stream (sure, stability is great, but it was never financially stable if he was simply renting that place before)

Those things can all be true and I can still be sad someone youngish who is a parent passed away. But he was irresponsible and asking for money to help is wrong. To “support the children’s education…” what does that even mean? Support their homeschooling? College?

The only thing I can say is she deserves it more than Erika Kirk but only minimally so bc Erika is a muiti millionaire (independent of the Gofundme) and employed.

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

Anonymous wrote:I can't even watch videos of him, someone sent me the "god loves you" one or you are worthy or whatever it was, and I felt a little nauseous watching. All these people crying and acting like he was some amazing person and I don't get it. His sentiments lack authenticity and he gave me the mega christian ick.

I don't understand why there isn’t a plan to sell the home (even just taxes and upkeep would be crazy expensive) and the wording in the go fund me around the kids education seems odd to me.

The wording about the kids education is fuzzy because it requires that the mom continues to not work and they reside on the ranch, as they are home schooled in a dedicated one room schoolhouse on the property.

So any change to employment or residence means their home life AND school life are radically changed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was surprised Spielberg gave 25k to go fund. He should be embarrassed. Easily could afford much more than that considering his wealth.

How much money is he supposed to give away to someone who is already a multimillionare??? He should have given that 25k to a family who was actually being evicted from their home due to medical bills from a terminally ill head of household. As opposed to a family who purchased a 5 million dollar property within the past few weeks. If he's gonna give money away to people.

Agree. Anyone donating to this could find someone else who actually needs the money. This all seems so crazy, the amount of regular people donating $25-100 to the cause.

I can't even watch videos of him, someone sent me the "god loves you" one or you are worthy or whatever it was, and I felt a little nauseous watching. All these people crying and acting like he was some amazing person and I don't get it. His sentiments lack authenticity and he gave me the mega christian ick.

I don't understand why there isn’t a plan to sell the home (even just taxes and upkeep would be crazy expensive) and the wording in the go fund me around the kids education seems odd to me.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand how someone with six children and an unemployed wife would not carry sufficient life insurance for that one time they are killed when their car is run into a barrier wall.

People procrastinate on such things. It’s not uncommon. Stop judging.

i judge bad parenting, especially when the parents start begging strangers based on their bad parenting. YDY.

Begging aside, you think every person who dies young who doesn’t have a multi million dollar life insurance policy is a bad parent?

Okay. I judge you for being stupid and an @$$hole. And for modeling that to your kids, which I guess could make you… a bad parent?

And? Judge away. That's your prerogative. Do better and bless your heart

You can’t combine these. The aggressive “do better” completely kills the impact of the passive aggressive “bless your heart”.

Do better.

The whole thing seems in bad taste, if nothing else. I’m sorry he passed away and that this financial information issue is now part of his legacy.

Anonymous wrote:I was surprised Spielberg gave 25k to go fund. He should be embarrassed. Easily could afford much more than that considering his wealth.

How much money is he supposed to give away to someone who is already a multimillionare??? He should have given that 25k to a family who was actually being evicted from their home due to medical bills from a terminally ill head of household. As opposed to a family who purchased a 5 million dollar property within the past few weeks. If he's gonna give money away to people.

Anonymous wrote:I was surprised Spielberg gave 25k to go fund. He should be embarrassed. Easily could afford much more than that considering his wealth.

Why is it Spielbergs responsibility to make sure van der needs wife can continue living in a $4 million home?

Spielberg should not have donated at all.

I was surprised Spielberg gave 25k to go fund. He should be embarrassed. Easily could afford much more than that considering his wealth.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand how someone with six children and an unemployed wife would not carry sufficient life insurance for that one time they are killed when their car is run into a barrier wall.

People procrastinate on such things. It’s not uncommon. Stop judging.

i judge bad parenting, especially when the parents start begging strangers based on their bad parenting. YDY.

Begging aside, you think every person who dies young who doesn’t have a multi million dollar life insurance policy is a bad parent?

Okay. I judge you for being stupid and an @$$hole. And for modeling that to your kids, which I guess could make you… a bad parent?

And? Judge away. That's your prerogative. Do better and bless your heart