James Van Der Beek‘s friend and fellow actor Mehcad Brooks shared a powerful message on social media to anyone criticizing the family’s GoFundMe in the wake of his death.
On Saturday, Law & Order alum Brooks responded to a user on Threads who shared a headline reporting that the late Dawson’s Creek alum bought a $4.8 million Texas home in January before he died. The user said the family asking for donations via the GoFundMe “doesn’t sit right with me” after buying such an expensive home.
“I am one of the Van Der Beek’s closet friends, and the headlines are fake AF,” Brooks wrote on Threads in response. “You have no idea wtf you’re talking about. You have no idea the pain they went through. It’s ok to stfu when you can’t know what the f— you’re talking about.”
The Mortal Kombat star continued, “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.”
James Van Der Beek/Instagram
Earlier on Saturday, the Threads user posted a screenshot of a TMZ article reporting that Van Der Beek purchased the multi-million dollar ranch one month before he died on Feb. 11 at age 48, leaving behind his wife, Kimberly, and their six children. The screenshot also showed the GoFundMe set up for the family after his death, which has raised nearly $2.7 million as of Monday.
“This doesn’t sit right with me. Not at all,” the user wrote. “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…”
The Dawson’s Creek star left Los Angeles in 2020 with his wife and their six children to begin renting a sprawling 36-acre property on the outskirts of Austin. He made moves to purchase the ranch in January with “help” from friends, a representative for the late actor confirmed on Sunday.
“James secured down payment for the Texas ranch for the family with the help of friends through a trust so they could shift from rent to mortgage,” a spokesperson for the actor said on Saturday. According to Realtor.com, the home cost $4.76 million and was purchased on Jan. 9, just over a month before the actor died.
Rick Kern/Getty
Van Der Beek, who played the titular character on all six seasons of Dawson’s Creek, died on Wednesday after announcing in November 2024 that he’d been diagnosed with stage 3 colorectal cancer and had been privately undergoing treatment. Following his death, friends of the beloved actor set up a GoFundMe to provide financial support for his family as they faced “an uncertain future.”
“The costs of James’s medical care and the extended fight against cancer have left the family out of funds,” the GoFundMe states. “They are working hard to stay in their home and to ensure the children can continue their education and maintain some stability during this incredibly difficult time.”
They added that donations would go toward “essential living expenses, [to] pay bills, and support the children’s education.”
In addition to fans’ generous contributions, the Van Der Beek family has also received high-value donations from Steven Spielberg, Zoe Saldaña, Dancing With the Stars judge Derek Hough, and Wicked director Jon M. Chu.
The late actor previously opened up about receiving “almost nothing” from Dawson’s Creek residuals, which helps explain why his family is currently struggling financially in the wake of his death.
“There was no residual money,” Van Der Beek told TODAY.com in 2012. “I was 20. It was a bad contract. I saw almost nothing from that.”
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He revealed in that same 2012 interview that he decided to star in Don’t Trust the B—- in Apartment 23 “when the [Dawson’s Creek] money ran out,” and he realized he needed to “buckle down” and sign on to projects to provide for his family.
Before his death, Van Der Beek spent months auctioning off items from some of his most iconic roles, including Dawson’s Creek and Varsity Blues, to help pay for his medical care.
“I’ve been storing these treasures for years, waiting for the right time to do something with them, and with all of the recent unexpected twists and turns life has presented recently, it’s clear that the time is now,” the actor told PEOPLE in November 2025. “While I have some nostalgia tugging at me as I part with these items, it feels good to be able to offer them through Propstore’s auction to share with those who have supported my work over the years.”