Jennifer Aniston has probably been asked for life advice more times than she can count. She has spent more than three decades in Hollywood, survived the kind of tabloid attention that would probably make most people throw their phones into the ocean, and remains a television legend. Still, when somebody recently asked for the best advice she could offer, she reached for somebody else’s words. Of course, she quoted the late, great Dolly Parton.
During a Q&A session after a 92Y interview with her boyfriend Jim Curtis about his new book, the questions turned to Aniston, who was asked for the best advice she could offer. She reached for the words of her late friend Dolly Parton. In a clip shared on Instagram by journalist Kelly Allen, the Friends alum reflected on the country legend’s seemingly endless supply of memorable quotes before settling on one that has clearly stuck with her. She said:
One of her many, many, many incredible quotes, and they’re endless, endless, endless, but she would say, ‘You know, I chased a few rainbows, and I caught them. And I caught a few.’ So, I would say, just go chase your dreams, go catch the rainbows.
That is some extremely on-brand Dolly Parton advice, and it comes from her song “Try,” where she sings, “I’ve chased after rainbows, I’ve captured one or two.” Given her blue-collar background, of course there is ambition in the advice, but also the acknowledgment that you are not going to catch every rainbow you chase. The country music legend certainly chased enough of them. She grew up in poverty in Tennessee and eventually became one of the biggest songwriters and entertainers in the world, while building Dollywood and the Imagination Library along the way.
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The quote also carries considerably more weight now. The Steel Magnolias star died August 25 at the age of 80, and Aniston’s comments came a little more than a week later. She told the audience that “we’re all in post-Parton,” before passing along the advice. That is a rough phrase, “post-Parton.” I’m still getting used to it myself.
The longtime sitcom staple was hardly quoting a celebrity she admired from afar. The two actually worked together on 2018’s Dumplin’, a movie streaming with a Netflix subscription, that the NBC veteran starred in and produced.
The “I Will Always Love You” songwriter wrote six original songs for the soundtrack with Linda Perry and re-recorded several older favorites. She even managed to get the Office Space veteran and Danielle Macdonald into the recording booth for “Push and Pull,” despite both actresses initially protesting that they were not singers. The late music icon’s response was basically that she did not care. They were singing anyway.
Aniston was already a serious fan before making the movie. She had even named one of her dogs Dolly Parton. Their first meeting took place over dinner at The Morning Show actress’s home, where the actual Dolly reportedly asked if she could meet her canine namesake.
Their connection has circled back around again recently through Aniston’s planned 9 to 5 remake. She is producing the project through Echo Films, with Diablo Cody writing the screenplay. Before her death, the Theme Park Hall of Fame inductee had read the script and publicly supported the new take on the 1980 workplace comedy in which she starred alongside Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin.
So when Aniston was suddenly put on the spot and asked to offer the best advice she had, it makes sense that Dolly came to mind.
