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NEED TO KNOW
Tracy Morgan has donated more than $200,000 to feed 19,000 families in need
The comedian and actor works with the Hackensack Meridian Health Foundation
The SNL alum tells PEOPLE that life is "better when you give it back"
Tracy Morgansays one of the greatest joys in his life today is giving back.
"I fed 19,000 families," Morgan, 57, tells PEOPLE exclusively while promoting his new Paramount+ sitcomCrutch. The actor and comedian has donated more than $200,000 to support vulnerable households through his work with the Hackensack Meridian Health Foundation.
"It's fun to get the love and support, but it's better when you give it back," he says reflecting on his career. "That's what I want to teach my children. More than a great education, I just want [Maven] and her brothers to be empathic."
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TheSaturday Night Livealum's focus on giving back and his family reflects his priorities these days. "At this point in my life, spending [time] with my children. That's it. I don't care about nothing else in this world," he says, referring to 12-year-old daughterMaven Sonae(whom he shares with ex-wife Megan Wollover) and sons sons Gitrid, 39, Malcolm, 38, and Tracy Jr., 34, whom he shared with ex-wife Sabina Morgan, who died of cancer in 2016.
His perspective was shaped in part by a2014 highway crashthat left him in critical condition and killed his friendJames McNair. He remembers waking in the hospital and hearing his grandmother's voice: "Just when you thought you was doing bad, there's people out there doing worse," Morgan says. "So I feel fortunate."
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That same grateful approach influences the work he chooses. "Anything with a heart. If it doesn't have a heart, I don't wanna do it," he says.
Morgan stars inCrutch, a spinoff of the CBS hit comedyThe Neighborhood,starringCedric the Entertainer(streaming now on Paramount+). Morgan plays Cedric's cousin, Francois "Frank" Crutchfield, a brash but beloved Harlem shop owner whose life shifts when his highbrow son and free-spirited daughter move back home.
Next he'll reunite with his30 RockcostarTina Fey, who's producing a new NBC comedy,The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins, starring Morgan as a disgraced former football player oppositeDaniel Radcliffe. "You gotta have fun," he says of deciding on projects.
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Reflecting on his decades-long career, Morgan says the work feels even more meaningful now. "I love everything that I've done," he says. "I'm an older man now, so it's that much fun. It's getting even better now that I have the experience. You can't see how big the mountain is if you're right up on it. You have to step back and look at it and go, 'Wow, that mountain is big.' Now I see how big this mountain is. Now I'm gonna climb it. And I'm gonna climb it just because it's there."
These days, he walks two and a half miles daily, trains regularly and has switched fromOzempicto Mounjaro. "I'm just trying to live good," he says. "I'm not worried about how I'm [going to] die. I'm just trying to worry about how I live. I'm living good."
When asked what advice he'd offer his younger self, Morgan says, "Keep doing what you're doing. You're doing fine."
Crutchis streaming now on Paramount+.
Read the original article onPeople