As of Tuesday, the GoFundMe that was set up to help James Van Der Beek’s family pay for “essential living expenses” and keep the 36-acre ranch they’d been renting just outside of Austin, TX, has raised almost $2.7 million. Since it launched, however, there’s been a lot of confusion about the Van Der Beeks’ finances. In the months before his passing, James was open about how expensive his ancer treatments were. This made total sense to anyone who has ever had any experience with America’s for-profit healthcare system.
Since then, we’ve learned that James had bought the ranch through an LLC on January 9 for $4.76 million. It was purchased through a trust and his friends helped with the down payment. People also started pointing out that he and his wife, Kimberly Van Der Beek, still owned their home in Beverly Hills, which reportedly leases out for $12,000/month and is estimated to be worth $4 million. The GoFundMe raising its goal several times from the original $500,000 to the current $1.5 million also left a bad taste in some people’s mouths, and they have been vocal about it online. When James’ good friend, Mehcad Brooks, saw a Threads post from someone saying that the GFM didn’t sit right with them, he jumped in to defend the VDB family. According to Mehcad, the headlines are fake news, the general public has no clue about the truth, and everyone should just shut up with their criticism.
James Van Der Beek‘s friend and fellow actor Mehcad Brooks (“True Blood,” “Mortal Kombat”) recently used Threads (via Daily Beast) to slam the backlash over the GoFundMe that was created to raise money for Van Der Beek’s wife and children after his death. The campaign raised $2.6 million after revealing the late actor’s cancer battle had left his family “out of funds.” However, detractors emerged on social media.
“This doesn’t sit right with me. Not at all,” one user on Threads posted about the GoFundMe. “Sure, I get it. But thousands of people around the world face this exact situation every day and deal with the struggle. They don’t get $2.5 million. It’s just weird. He had to have had life insurance… and residual checks…”
Brooks saw this post and fired back in a response that reads: “I am one of the Van Der Beek’s closet friends and the headlines are fake AF you have no idea wtf you’re talking about,” Brooks wrote amid backlash. “You have no idea the pain they went through. It’s ok to stfu when you can’t know what the f-ck you’re talking about. It’s ok not to try to seek attention off of other people’s suffering or the generosity in response to it. Because James touched them for decades. It’s ok for you to stay quiet in the face of blind stupidity, meanness and lack of empathy. But maybe you’re not okay.”
Brooks has used social media in the days after Van Der Beek’s death to mourn and honor his friend. In a carousel of photos of the two together, Brooks wrote that it was “one of the greatest honors of my life is to call James my brother. It cannot be understated how much impact this man had on the world, particularly those who knew him closely. He was and always will be an angel among us.”
“I was with him for the last four days,” Brooks continued. “He handled the transition from flesh and blood, earth and bone to air and spirit, energy and soul like a true King. James truly impacted me in such a unique and special way that I’d be on this phone all day trying to explain it to you all… You have no idea how wonderful of a human being he truly is.”
Mehcad is right that we don’t have all of the details about James’ illness or the Van Der Beeks’ finances. We can only go by public records and what the family has shared. Maybe James bought the ranch to call it a homestead and put it into a trust in order to protect it from creditors. Perhaps they’re selling the Beverly Hills home whenever the current lease is up. It’s not really any of our business, but if they’re going to continue to ask people to give money, then they should be prepared for pushback. The average American doesn’t have enough money saved up for a medical emergency, let alone a platform to ask for donations at this level. It’s time to close the GFM and work with a financial planner on how to best use that money going forward.
I don’t know how (if at all) this fits into any of the VDB’s current financial situation, but TMZ reported that in November 2021, James and Kimberly received a lien from the IRS for failure to pay their taxes in 2018 and 2019 in the amount of $269,328.62. They paid it off in April 2022 and the lien was released.
photos credit: Faye Sadou/Avalon, Drew Altizer/Wenn/Avalon, Nicky Nelson/Wenn/Avalon