James Van Der Beek has collected little leftovers from the hugely popular “Dawson’s Creek.”
The actor, who died Wednesday at the age of 48 after a battle with colorectal cancer, struggled financially in his final months due to medical bills and an inability to work.
According to a GoFundMe account set up by friends hours after the Varsity Blues actor’s death, his wife, Kimberly, and their six children now “face an uncertain future.”
In a 2012 interview, Van Der Beek recalled how he got “almost nothing” from the CW drama series, which aired from 1998 to 2003.
“I didn’t have any money left,” he told Today.com, adding that he was “20 years old” at the time. “That was a bad deal,” he explained. “You could hardly see anything from there.”
He also explained that he signed on to appear in Don’t Trust the B–In Apartment 23 in 2012 “when[Dawson’s Creek]ran out of money.”
“When you have all the money in the world, it’s very easy to just sit back and coast,” he told the outlet.
“But when you realize you have to support yourself and your family, it really forces you to buckle down.”
In response to Variety’s X post about Van Der Beek’s posthumous fundraising efforts, actress Rachel True, who appeared in two episodes of Dawson’s Creek, explained that Van Der Beek may have been cheated out of better pay for her iconic role in the series.
“Television shows other than ABC, CBS, and NBC are already considered ‘syndicated,’ meaning they are not required to pay their performers their proper balances,” she wrote Wednesday.
“The ‘It F’ actors fell in love with James because of the financial security and the rightful inheritance. We did two eps for ‘Dawson’s Creek’ and he was thrilled.”
Fans in the comment thread called Van Der Beek’s lack of residual money “awful” and “terrible,” with one person saying, “Streaming platforms still have to pay actors a proper residual salary!!!!”
Before her death in November, Van Der Beek auctioned off her personal belongings from “Dawson’s Creek” to raise funds for her cancer treatment.
Despite the financial hardship caused by his death, the beloved actor has left behind a long list of celebrities and fans eager to help, and a GoFundMe has already raised nearly $2 million in donations to support his family.
Celebrities such as Zoe Saldaña, “Wicked” director Jon M. Chu and “Dancing with the Stars” personality Derek Hough have donated thousands of dollars to efforts to keep Van Der Beek’s family financially afloat.
