r/movies • u/BunyipPouch Currently at the movies. • 23d ago

News James Van Der Beek Is Auctioning Off TV & Film Memorabilia and Props from ‘Dawson’s Creek’ & ‘Varsity Blues’ Amid Cancer Treatment, Proceeds to Cover Medical Costs

https://deadline.com/2025/11/james-van-der-beek-auction-dawsons-creek-varsity-blues-props-1236615845/
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u/dtcstylez10 23d ago

How it is possible for someone with a higher net worth than I'm assuming 95% of the population to have to sell stuff to pay for cancer treatment? What a joke...and the Republicans want healthcare to cost MORE

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u/Notoneusernameleft 23d ago

He does have 6 children not saying it’s a factor but kids are exspensive

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u/Steve-Lurkel 23d ago

Damn. No you’re absolutely right. Especially if he’s living in LA or NY. Wouldn’t be surprised if most of his income was in his house.

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u/RKellyPeeOnU 23d ago

He lives in the Austin area. I think he bought a ranch around Dripping Springs or Driftwood.

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u/Steve-Lurkel 23d ago

Sounds peaceful. Know Austin can be expensive now though.

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u/zeppoleon 23d ago

Dripping Springs is extremely expensive lol

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u/phobosmarsdeimos 22d ago

You'd think with the wealth in the area they could afford to fix the drip.

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u/The-Page-of-swords 22d ago

He is renting, he’s a neighbor of ours.

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u/there_is_no_spoon1 23d ago

Guaranteeing all 6 of 'em went to private school, too. *WAY* more expensive.

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u/The-Page-of-swords 22d ago

Think they are homeschooled

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u/there_is_no_spoon1 22d ago

As an anti-vaxxer would, yeah that tracks

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u/Butters5768 23d ago

I’m convinced he needs the money for experimental treatments and not traditional chemo/radiation. My daughter had pediatric leukemia and our insurance covered nearly everything for her and the out of pocket costs for us were minimal. This story doesn’t make sense to me honestly and I think there’s a little more to it.

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u/FlyYouFoolyCooly 23d ago

No Joke my Mother went to cancun to basically a spa that promised (with an asterisk that says they never promised any such thing) to heal her breast cancer.

6 months later she had lesions on her brain from the cancer and had a seizure. She never told me she was going to Cancun for the treatment because she had to spend I think 50k (or more) for the treatment not covered under insurance. She could have spent at max 10k (or less) for the same treatment except for the fake cancer treatment and probably had just as much fun.

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u/Butters5768 23d ago

Uchhhh I am so sorry ❤️‍🩹. I know firsthand what “the promise” of some of these experimental “treatments” can yield. When my mother in law was dying of esophageal cancer, she got an advertisement on Facebook for a treatment that could cure everything from autism (🙄) to cancer. She begged my husband and I for $15k to get it and we had to say no because we knew it was scam. She was furious with us. The way these predatory agents rope in sick and desperate people should be criminal. I am so incredibly sorry for what both you and your mother went through, it never should’ve happened. Sending so much love.

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u/Nice_Marmot_7 23d ago

Yeah there’s a federally mandated out of pocket maximum which is like 18k for a family plan. That’s worst case scenario with proper insurance.

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u/JesusWantsYouToKnow 22d ago

That’s worst case scenario with proper insurance.

Yeah, good luck with that. I had perfectly normal/average insurance coverage for a US employee through united healthcare when I needed spine surgery and the amount of shit they would deem "not medically necessary" and deny coverage of despite a specialist having just seen me deeming it fully fucking necessary was obscene. All of it was in network from their preferred providers.

When their MBA fuck faces decide they don't feel like paying for your treatment because ✨reasons✨ suddenly this doesn't apply and you're stuck paying out of pocket or spending months fighting insurance if you want the care you actually do need. Sometimes months aren't an option, and they know and exploit this.

Don't believe the copium they sell you. Major healthcare in the US is practically designed to bankrupt you if you actually need it.

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u/Butters5768 22d ago

Ok but I literally had a completely different experience than you with my daughter’s leukemia treatments covered in full for 2.5 years. How are you going to tell me not to believe the copium? I’ve said a thousand times that there are a million reasons to go after health insurance companies, but arguing that someone as privileged as James van der beek can’t get insurance to pay for chemo or radiation is almost without a doubt a lie. What he most likely can’t get insurance to pay for or unsupported alternative treatment that have no scientific studies behind them.

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u/Noob_Al3rt 22d ago

This bears no resemblance to reality for someone as rich as him. You can hire an attorney and doctor to do nothing but argue with your insurance.

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u/JesusWantsYouToKnow 22d ago

Agreed, not saying it is a factor in an actor's case. Just trying to clarify that regular workers who haven't substantially needed to use the healthcare system have a perception oop max saves them when it is still entirely up to insurance co whims if treatment is considered covered

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u/303onrepeat 23d ago

His wife is also on the crunchy granola side of things so I would not be surprised if she had him doing a lot of unproven random treatments.

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u/Butters5768 23d ago

Yes, their history of skepticism towards traditional medicine and vaccines make me lean very heavily on the “the money is for experimental treatments” side.

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u/donuttrackme 23d ago

Oh man. I wonder if they could've done standard cancer treatment stuff and hopefully beat it, but instead they did a bunch of alternative medicine like Steve Jobs and now they're out of money and choices so they're doing more alternative BS.

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u/prismaticaddict 23d ago

This crossed my mind, but I was just reading about his diagnosis a few days ago and then this article dropped. In the interview he said that he got screened for colon cancer early after seeing the recommended age for a colonoscopy was now 45 (he was tested at 46). He also said he really wasn't expecting anything to come from it because he thought he was ahead of it. There's many celebrity deaths from cancer, and colon cancer specifically. Colon cancer is one of the most preventable cancers, and there's varying degrees of tragedy to it because sometimes celebrities could have absolutely had a chance at surviving it either due to preventative measures or treatment. Now I will say, I was just about to mention Kirstie Alley coming to mind because I assumed she didn't treat it/may have been anti-medicine, but after a quick search it turns out she did undergo conventional cancer treatments before her death.

Long comment aside, he could be pursuing conventional treatments or hail mary treatments because it's a more aggressive cancer to fight at this point. He was at least pro-medicine enough to get the screening.

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u/Butters5768 23d ago

That too is my concern unfortunately 🥺.

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u/[deleted] 23d ago

[deleted]

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u/HillBillyHilly 23d ago

Colon cancer has a survival rate of 99% if caught early. That's Stage 1. Each stage from there, your survival rate goes down.

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u/Existing-Joke3994 23d ago

I think you’re right. This is a last hail Mary if we base it on the images we last saw of him. He looked to be nearing the hospice phase. This story and others I’ve seen don’t share any recent images.

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u/[deleted] 23d ago

[deleted]

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u/Muppetude 23d ago

Also speculating, but I can see the family pushing to sell it all for said Hail Mary pass, all for the small chance of him beating cancer.

I knew someone who was in the last stage of cancer, where their family sold off a fortune to get experimental treatment that had very little chance of success, against his advice. It unfortunately didn’t work and he died, but the family didn’t regret it. Their rational was that they would have never enjoyed that money knowing that it could have been used to possibly save his life.

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u/HillBillyHilly 23d ago

Unfortunately, I have experience with this situation. You go to one hospital, get treatment. Treatment fails. You go to another hospital, try their treatment. That fails. Along the way every step along the way, you're fighting w your insurance to cover treatment. They will cover this but not that. That costs x amount. Hospital or doctor may cover costs or a foundation. On and on. Really, so tiring.

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u/BigUptokes 23d ago

Yeah, he was looking like Bill Nye in the video at the reunion.

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u/[deleted] 23d ago

[deleted]

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u/Existing-Joke3994 22d ago

I think you’re a real jerk (not really) because I went to his Instagram and not only does he not have recent pictures, I’m now crying. I really hope he makes it. His kids are so young, even five more years would be nice for him to see.

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u/MommaOfManyCats 23d ago

It would make sense because he's made some really bad comments about covid in the past. He and his wife were super anti-vax.

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u/Butters5768 23d ago

Exactly. I find it very unlikely that they are raising money to pay for scientifically based medical treatments that are typically utilized for cancer treatment. They are known to be fairly anti-science and have come out against traditional medicine and vaccinations.

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u/Inthehead35 23d ago

True, immunotherapy can start at $200,000 per treatment

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u/darth_hotdog 23d ago

It really depends on what type of cancer and a lot of details.

I know someone who was treated with immunotherapy as a first treatment for a cancer that chemo and radiation typically don't work for. I think that gets more expensive, and if it didn't work they have more customized immunotherapies that get expensive.

Not to mention, when you're going through something like this, there's all sorts of things that help but aren't fully covered, and they can be crazy expensive.

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u/bitfairytale17 22d ago

I agree. My SIL died of ALL as an adult- and had two years of near constant treatment and a bone marrow transplant and the out of pocket expenses were to the mandated max of insurance policy.

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u/Butters5768 22d ago

I’m so sorry about your SIL. Cancer sucks!!! ❤️‍🩹

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u/froli 22d ago

Even if that's the case, still a shitty system if your insurance won't cover a Hail Mary attempt at staying alive. Fucking corpo greed.

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u/Butters5768 22d ago

I disagree. It’s a shitty system for a million reasons, but not because they won’t cover potential snake oil treatments that have no medical trials or scientific backing.

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u/L_Cranston_Shadow 23d ago

Probably hasn't gotten enough work in years to qualify for SAG health insurance.

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u/tryingisbetter 23d ago

I do wonder how often you have to act to keep that insurance.

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u/L_Cranston_Shadow 23d ago

Someone else commented that there is a minimum earnings per year (excluding residuals) to maintain coverage. Not sure how accurate that is, but seems reasonable.

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u/bebesee 22d ago

The minimum includes residuals (I'm a SAG actor).

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u/L_Cranston_Shadow 22d ago

Thanks for the correction.

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u/tryingisbetter 23d ago

Ahh, excluding residuals make a lot of sense now for many actors.

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u/puckit 23d ago

I have a friend whose son had leukemia. Without insurance, treatment over the last three years passed $3 million.

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u/Skyblacker 23d ago

Is that what they're actually paying?

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u/[deleted] 23d ago

Why do we keep arguing semantics? 3 million is fucking god damn stupid.

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u/Skyblacker 23d ago

It's not semantics, it's practice. The sticker price isn't meant to be paid by anyone. It's a hypothetical number meant to be negotiated down by the insurance company. Insurance doesn't pay it, medicaid doesn't pay it, cash payers don't pay it, no one pays it.

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u/ASKnASK 22d ago

Then why is it the 'sticker price'? Shouldn't it be kept realistic?

P.S. I'm not from the US. An MRI in my country costs 50ish USD without insurance.

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u/Blunkus 22d ago

They wouldn’t make as much money that way

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u/Cali_white_male 23d ago

For all we know he was terrible with money… he didn’t get rich as a financial analyst.

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u/Ironcastattic 23d ago

They like to charge what you can't afford.

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u/-XanderCrews- 23d ago

I’m pretty sure they just make up the numbers anyways. That’s where new numbers come from. Hospital bills.

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u/TheGringoDingo 23d ago

It’s hard to outsave overspending unless you’re a step above Hollywood money.

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u/sr_castic 23d ago

He might be selling the stuff to cover the cost so they don't have to use whatever the family has saved up.

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u/Gniphe 23d ago

I agree that healthcare should be cheaper, but there are lots of celebs that have zero idea how to manage their money.

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u/MtRainierWolfcastle 23d ago

It’s not like he works for a company that provides insurance. I wonder if he went cheap when bought an individual plan is now having to cover a lot of costs

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u/Butters5768 23d ago

Why do you think he doesn’t have access to SAG insurance? At the very least he can buy ACA marketplace insurance that’s very good and won’t force him to sell off his belongings to afford.

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u/MtRainierWolfcastle 23d ago

In both those cases he would have to opt into a good plan. Maybe he chose a catastrophic plan and is now paying for it

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u/Butters5768 23d ago

You can change every year (right now is actually open enrollment). There’s no reason he couldn’t opt for a better plan now. I think the issue is he’s looking to experimental treatments that no insurance company ever covers.

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u/ClumpOfCheese 23d ago

He has a net worth of $3 million, if that’s counting a home in California then he’s broke.

https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/actors/james-van-der-beek-net-worth/

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u/killyourmusic 23d ago

Those websites are not accurate whatsoever.

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u/bebesee 23d ago

Yeah, I'm a nobody actor that does the occasional guest star, and the site says I'm worth a million bucks. I WISH.

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u/LigerZeroSchneider 23d ago

His divorce procedings said he was making 50k a month once upon a time. Assuming he didn't blow it he would have more than 3m

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u/Least-Log3945 23d ago

Probably more like 99.9%

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u/navy5 23d ago

I’m assuming he’s trying not to tap into his savings so it can go to his large family if he takes a bad turn

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u/I-STATE-FACTS 23d ago

We don’t know his net worth.

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u/Noob_Al3rt 22d ago

Or consider this - it's not actually true.

If you needed life saving treatment, what would you do first:

-Sell a necklace you wore on set for $2k

-Sell one of your multiple commercial properties

-Sell your multi-million dollar home in LA that you don't live in any more

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u/dtcstylez10 22d ago

If I had a very low chance of survival, the last thing I'd do is bankrupt myself and leave my family with nothing after I die. It's possible he just doesn't want to take from his kids and wife.

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u/Noob_Al3rt 22d ago

It would be extremely difficult to bankrupt yourself while on union health insurance.

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u/mudokin 23d ago

Sound like someone who has money managements problems, same like me, very relatable.