Jennifer Aniston opened up about her friendship with Dolly Parton as she revealed advice she received from the late country legend.
The 57-year-old actress said the best advice she ever received came from Parton, who passed away last week at the age of 80.
Aniston sat down for a live interview with her love guru boyfriend Jim Curtis at the 92nd Street Y in New York City on Wednesday.
Although she was the one asking her 50-year-old partner questions, she did share Parton’s advice: “She said, ‘I chased some rainbows and I caught some.’
“So I’d say just follow your dreams and go catch some rainbows. Go hunt for rainbows.”
Aniston also called Parton a “dear friend” during the chat. The two had worked together during the making of the 2018 film Dumplin’, in which the Friends actress starred and the Jolene hitmaker performed music.
Jennifer Aniston (pictured in Los Angeles in June 2025) opened up about her friendship with Dolly Parton as she revealed advice she received from the late country legend
The 57-year-old actress said the best advice she ever received came from Parton, who passed away last week at the age of 80; the A-listers can be seen in 2018
The film centers on a plus-size teen living in the shadow of her mother, a former beauty queen played by Aniston, who decides to lead a rebellion.
The daughter draws inspiration from her Parton fandom, which is why the country legend contributed to the soundtrack.
Parton died last week, as emerged at the time that she secretly battled cancer, although the specific species was not made public.
In his Instagram video announcing her death, her cousin Bryan Seaver conveyed Parton’s wish “to rest in a beautiful plush cotton bed, because after a lifetime of carrying heavy rhinestones, she finally deserves to be comfortable and have some rest.”
He praised his aunt for “living in the light” and said she was now “in the arms of Jesus” and in the company of her late husband Carl Dean, as well as her parents and “countless others who have watched her and longed to meet her in heaven.”
Dean died at the age of 82 from causes that remained private in March 2025, two months before what would have been his and Parton’s 59th wedding anniversary.
Often called the Queen of Country, Parton enjoyed an illustrious music career spanning six decades and was perhaps best known for her hits Jolene and 9 to 5.
Parton was born on January 19, 1946, in Pittman Center, Tennessee, the fourth of twelve children, six of whom are still living.
Aniston sat down for a live interview with her love guru boyfriend Jim Curtis at the 92nd Street Y in New York City on Wednesday
Aniston also called Parton a “best friend” during the chat. The two had worked together during the making of the 2018 film Dumplin’, in which the Friends actress starred and the Jolene hitmaker performed music.
Her death followed months of health problems that saw her withdraw from a series of public appearances, fueling fans’ fears for her well-being.
In an interview published just four days before her death, Parton had stated that she still had “so many things I want to accomplish” and vowed to “keep working as long as I can to see everything come to life,” via People.
She explained that she was struggling with “some health issues that I just didn’t pay attention to when I was watching over Carl.”
Parton once told NPR that her 1973 classic Jolene was partly inspired by a local bank teller who developed a flirtatious relationship with Dean.
“She was deeply in love with my husband,” she said at the time. “And he just loved going to the couch because she paid so much attention to him.
“It was kind of like a running joke between us when I said, ‘You spend a lot of time at the bank. I don’t think we have that much money.’
Years later, on stage at Glastonbury, she said of the song, “I wrote that years ago when my husband… was spending a little more time with Jolene than I thought he should be. I put an end to that. I quickly got rid of that red-haired woman.”
Parton and Dean first met at a laundromat in Nashville in 1964, when she was 18 and he was 21, and they exchanged vows in May 1966.
Parton (pictured in London in March 1993) died last week after it emerged she had secretly battled cancer, although the specific strain was not made public.
“I had never been to a laundromat before,” she recalled in the 2023 documentary Dolly Parton: In Her Own Words. “I walked outside and there was a handsome man driving by the Wishy Washy Laundromat. And he stepped aside. So we started talking and two years later we got married.’
Throughout her decades of high-octane superstardom, Dean remained a constant and supportive figure for Parton behind the scenes.
Parton offered her audience a rare glimpse into her 2024 wedding and revealed the reason why her husband refused to attend events with her.
She noted that her husband was “not the least bit interested in” her songs, despite loving her job, on Bunnie XO’s Dumb Blonde podcast.
A telling moment occurred early in their marriage when she persuaded Dean to attend an awards ceremony in 1967, where she won song of the year.
Parton married her husband Carl Thomas Dean in 1966 in Ringgold, Georgia
The outing made such an impression on her “homely” husband that he promptly informed Parton, “I wish you all the best, but don’t ever ask me to go to another damn thing because I’m not going.”
The couple, who renewed their vows at their Nashville home in 2016, used humor to dispel any potential for conflict in their decades-long relationship.
Parton raved that her husband was “hilarious,” explaining, “He’s quiet and I’m loud, and we’re funny…we have a lot of fun.” Always [there is] there is too much tension, each of us can enjoy it, make up a joke about it to really break the tension, where we don’t let it get to that point. We never fought back and forth.”
When he died last year, she wrote a heartfelt tribute to their “many wonderful years together,” adding: “Words cannot do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and condolences.”
