{"id":115266,"date":"2026-02-13T21:43:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T21:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=115266"},"modified":"2026-02-13T21:43:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T21:43:00","slug":"steven-spielberg-donates-25000-to-james-van-der-beeks-2m-gofundme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=115266","title":{"rendered":"Steven Spielberg donates $25,000 to James Van Der Beek\u2019s $2m GoFundMe"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Oscar-winning film director Steven Spielberg and his wife, Kate Capshaw, have donated $25,000 (\u00a321,000) to the $2m (\u00a31.6m) GoFundMe pot collected for the late Dawson\u2019s Creek actor James Van Der Beek.<\/p>\n

The star died this week aged 48, leaving behind his wife Kimberly and their six children, and the crowdfunder for his family has now surpassed its $2m target.<\/p>\n

Another Oscar winner, actress Zoe Salda\u00f1a-Perego, donated $2,500 monthly,\u00a0according to Hollywood Reporter, while Wicked: For Good director Jon M Chu also gave $10,000.<\/p>\n

A statement released by Friends of the Van Der Beek family, who arranged the collection, thanked contributors \u201cfrom the bottom of our hearts for showing up for James and his beautiful family\u201d.<\/p>\n

It read: \u201cYour kindness has meant more than we can put into words.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the middle of deep grief, your support has been a light. It reminds us that love is real, that community is strong, and that James\u2019s spirit continues to bring people together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Van Der Beek was best known for his role as the titular star of the US teen drama Dawson\u2019s Creek from 1998 to 2003.<\/p>\n

While he and Spielberg never officially worked together on a screen project, his character Dawson had posters of his filmmaking hero\u2019s productions on his bedroom walls, including ET and Schindler\u2019s List.<\/p>\n

Spielberg surprised fans at last year\u2019s Dawson\u2019s Creek cast reunion event by sending a video message to his famous fan.<\/p>\n

\u201cDawson, you made it,\u201d said the director. \u201cMaybe someday I will get to have a Dawson\u2019s closet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Spielberg made a surprise video appearance at last year\u2019s Dawson\u2019s Creek reunion<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Van Der Beek died on Wednesday after having bowel cancer.<\/p>\n

He revealed in November 2024 that he had \u201cbeen privately dealing with this diagnosis\u201d since the previous August.<\/p>\n

The crowdfunder asked for financial aid after medical costs had left the family \u201cout of funds\u201d.<\/p>\n

The statement noted: \u201cRight now, the family is taking time to mourn and be with one another\u201d, adding: \u201cThank you for honouring his life with compassion, generosity, and love.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Oscar-winning film director Steven Spielberg and his wife, Kate Capshaw, have donated $25,000 (\u00a321,000) to the $2m (\u00a31.6m) GoFundMe pot collected for the late Dawson’s Creek actor James Van Der Beek.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16880,213,10,9,16881],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-james-van-der-beek","category-movies","category-politics","category-popular","category-steven-spielberg"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=115266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115266\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=115266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=115266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=115266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}