• Noah Wyle became a household name in his 20s thanks to "ER."
• But a big house and the trappings of success did not always add up to a fuller life, he said.
• These days, he says meaningful work and family life matter most to him.

Noah Wyle, 55, says his early success made him rethink what a fulfilling life looks like.

Speaking to Amy Poehler on Tuesday's episode of the "Good Hang" podcast, the newly named Sexiest Man Alive said his family taught him to use the opportunities he's had to help others and to be content with what he already has.

Wyle said that lesson stuck with him as his career took off, thanks to his role on "ER."

"I had this wonderful, huge career in my 20s when I got all the big toys, the big house. I got to see what my grandfather said was true," Wyle said. "You can only be in one room at a time. And sometimes the bigger the space, the lonelier the space."

Wyle said that realization has reshaped what he sees as worth pursuing.

"So, I've been on my own journey of defining what is enough and what makes me happy, and I've gotten to a place where it really is defined by meaningful work and meaningful family life," Wyle said. "The Pitt" star has three children from two marriages.

He said feeling fulfilled in his own life has given him room to give back and use the platform that comes with his fame to speak up about issues he cares about.

Wyle has been lending his time to a range of causes this year, including efforts to support healthcare workers and bring more film and TV jobs back to Los Angeles.

"I'm allowed to be philanthropic and feel magnanimous because my cup is full, which is a lovely thing to be able to say," Wyle said.

Other stars have similarly spoken about how getting older has changed the way they define a good life.

Kate Winslet has said that turning 50 changed how she viewed success.

"Success, actually, for me more these days is more about pulling it off, being a decent person. You know, being able to take care of people, having time for friends, also learning how to be OK with not being busy all the time," she said in a Newsweek interview in December.

Jodie Foster has said turning 60 freed her from trying to compete with her younger self.

"Everything changed. I was like, 'Yeah, I don't care. I'm no longer tortured by any of this. I don't know why I seemed to care so much,'" Foster said in a December interview with AARP.

Apps that match personalities — for a price — have surged in popularity amid a loneliness epidemic.

© Katie Orlinsky for The New York Times

People succumbed to heat at highest rates in Malta, Italy and Hungary, with health issues, loneliness and poverty exacerbating toll

Heat killed a record 50,000 people in European cities this summer, new research suggests, with scientists blaming climate breakdown for two in every three of the deaths.

Morgues and funeral homes filled with bodies from June to August as the heat added by planet-baking pollution cut short an extra 32,000 lives in urban areas, the researchers found. Hot days pushed vulnerable bodies into overdrive and warm nights prevented them from recovering.

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© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

© Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

r/BoyDinnerDiaries is a subreddit where men post photos of their often rather sad-looking meals alongside their most private worries. Zack Hauptman carefully explores this unusual place for community and care, meeting the men who are learning to share more than just what is on their plate. We hear a lot about the “male loneliness epidemic,” so it’s heartening to glimpse even a small shift in the other direction.

Others use the forum regardless of whether they have a vast social circle. Robert*, 31, says he has many people to turn to but uses Reddit when he needs to unload his feelings further. “I have an urge to vent when I don’t want to call a friend,” he says. In August, after experiencing repeated rejection from women he was seeing, he decided to post about it online. “I’m at the point where I feel so disappointed and let down but also so grateful that I have the opportunity to learn and grow from all of it,” he wrote alongside a photo of mushy canned tuna in a bowl. “I could talk about it pretty much all the time, but I don’t really want to be doing that,” he says. “Going to the subreddit…it’s like throwing it into the void.”

When Saeed Jones gets a Lyft ride with Mister Anthony in New Orleans, he has no idea he’s in for brief but deep connection that will occupy his mind long after the trip is over. Anthony is a Black elder originally from Mississippi, “old enough to be retired but still taking gigs.” As the man recalls the racism he experienced in the Magnolia State, Jones is reminded of his own experiences, his own trepidation. In all his travels, Jones reveals that Mississippi is the only place he has ever felt scared for his safety as a Black man.

Maybe to distract myself from the question of loneliness, I’m working to chart the depths of my ride with Mister Anthony. I’m interested in how people unexpectedly find one another. I refuse to romanticize the labor conditions and racial terror, for example, that played a role in introducing him to me. If America was doing right by someone like Mister Anthony, I would not have met him today. I know that fact like I know the blade of his laughter. But I am grateful I met him. Maybe it’s easier, especially for men of his generation and journey, to set one’s burdens down with a receptive stranger. Or maybe Mister Anthony is just like that with everyone and I happen to be a poet riding co-pilot with deep feelings. I want to save Mister Anthony’s life. I want to make his life better. Writing about him won’t do either, but I bow before him all the same.