James Van Der Beek is getting a little (financial) help from his friends amid his stage 3 cancer battle.
Paul Walter Hauser announced his partnership with Cameo on Monday, January 26, with the goal of raising $20,000 dollars by March 1 to aid Van Der Beek, 48, in paying for his ongoing treatment after the Dawson’s Creek alum began selling his personal memorabilia to help with costs.
“James Van Der Beek started selling his old stuff from his past acting jobs to pay for his colorectal cancer treatments, and it didn’t sit well with me,” Hauser, 39, wrote via Instagram on Monday. “I am an actor and father of 3 children, and I want them inheriting my trinkets/wardrobe/memorabilia someday. I wouldn’t want to auction off a Stingray shirt or Marvel script to make ends meet for treatment.”
The Marvel star asked his followers to “spread the love” by “spreading the word” about his mission, which will include recording personalized Cameo videos to provide direct financial assistance for Van Der Beek. In addition, Hauser will auction off “personal items” from celebrity friends like Josh Gad, Jimmy Kimmel, Beck Lynch and “many many more” to continue “our support of a fellow actor, father and husband who has rolled a painful pair of dice these last couple years.”
Hauser also got ahead of anyone who might question his motives by “arming” himself with “facts and receipts at the ready,” writing, “Before the Internet trolls wipe their saliva and attack their keyboards to question why I chose to raise money for this, and not something they deem worthy of time/efforts/funding, know that I’ve done stand up comedy for Relay for Life’s Cancer Charity Walk, I’ve donated my own earnings to organizations like Smile Train and Neighborly, and recently helped raise over $100,000 for ServeLA through my appearance on Celebrity Wheel of Fortune.”
He concluded his announcement by saying he’s “always liked” Van Der Beek, who “seems like a really good dude. Let’s help him out in this difficult moment.”
Us Weekly has reached out to Van Der Beek for comment.
While the twosome have never worked together on screen, Hauser recalled “berating” Van Der Beek during a 2010 celebrity flag football game during a 2022 appearance on the Rich Eisen Show. Hauser remembered being in the audience and yelling, “I want to see some blood out there, son!” over and over at the Varsity Blues actor before getting a reply.
“And after the third time I shouted it, he turned around and he goes, ‘I’ll make you proud, dad.’ And it became a bit. We just went back and forth, it was very funny,” he said with a laugh.
Van Der Beek — who shares Olivia, 14, Joshua, 13, Annabel, 11, Emilia, 8, Gwendolyn, 6, and Jeremiah, 3 with wife Kimberly — revealed his stage 3 colorectal cancer diagnosis via Instagram in November 2024.
Later that month, he announced that he was selling limited editions of his famous Varsity Blues jersey for families dealing with cancer, noting that “100 percent of my net proceeds will go to families recovering from the financial burden of cancer (including my own).”
The following September, the Dawson’s Creek cast reunited for a live reading of the show’s pilot episode to raise money for F Cancer. Van Der Beek, however, was forced to drop out last minute due to a stomach virus. Michelle Williams, Katie Holmes, Joshua Jackson, Mary Beth Peil, John Wesley Shipp, Mary-Margaret Humes, Kerr Smith, Meredith Monroe and Busy Philipps were all still in attendance for the event, with Lin-Manuel Miranda stepping in for Van Der Beek in the title role of Dawson Leery.
“I can’t believe I’m not there,” Van Der Beek said in a prerecorded message played on stage. “I can’t believe I don’t get to hug my castmates, my beautiful cast, in person, and I just wanted to stand on that stage and thank every single person in this theater for being here tonight — from the cast to the crew to everybody who donated their time and has been so generous. And especially every single last one of you. You’re the best fans in the world. Thank you for coming.”
Two months later, Van Der Beek announced his partnership Propstore to auction off treasured pieces of his career memorabilia to help pay for his ongoing treatments. Sold items included the Dawson’s Creek necklace Dawson gifted Joey (Holmes) for prom, Dawson’s pilot episode outfit and other episodes from the beloved ‘90s series.
“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,” he told the People at the time.
Van Der Beek ultimately raised $47,000 dollars during the three day event.
