Jennifer Aniston has heard plenty of advice over the course of a career spanning more than three decades.

But when someone recently asked her to share the best advice she could give, the Friends star did not reach for one of her own life lessons.

She thought of Dolly Parton.

During an appearance at New York City’s 92nd Street Y on Sept. 2, Aniston was taking part in an event celebrating her boyfriend Jim Curtis’ upcoming book, The Book of Possibility. Although Aniston was primarily there to interview Curtis, audience members eventually turned some questions back on her.

One person asked for the best advice she could offer.

Aniston immediately brought up her “dear friend” Dolly, who had died just days earlier at age 80.

Then she remembered one of Parton’s characteristically colorful ways of talking about ambition.

“She would say, ‘I chased a few rainbows and I caught some,’” Aniston recalled.

Aniston turned Dolly’s words into a message of her own:

“Go chase your dreams and go catch some rainbows. Chase rainbows.”

It was a brief answer, but it revealed how deeply Dolly’s optimism had stayed with her.

The Question Suddenly Became About Dolly

The Sept. 2 event was not organized as a Dolly Parton tribute.

Aniston was at 92NY with Curtis as he discussed The Book of Possibility, a self-help book centered on personal change and examining the patterns that shape people’s lives.

But the question about advice naturally led Aniston somewhere more personal.

Before sharing Dolly’s saying, she referred to her as a “dear friend” and acknowledged how strange the world felt without her.

She also noted that Dolly seemed to have an endless supply of memorable quotes.

That was part of Parton’s gift.

She could take ideas that might sound like conventional motivational advice — work hard, dream big, keep trying — and phrase them in a way that sounded unmistakably like Dolly.

“Chasing rainbows” fit perfectly.

Dolly was not claiming she had caught every one.

She had chased many.

She caught some.

The important part was continuing to chase them.

Their Relationship Became Much More Than Celebrity Admiration

Aniston’s connection to Parton was not simply that of a famous actress admiring a famous singer from afar.

They became collaborators through the 2018 Netflix movie Dumplin’.

Aniston starred as Rosie Dickson, a former beauty queen whose plus-size teenage daughter enters the pageant her mother helps run. Dolly’s music was woven deeply into Julie Murphy’s original novel, so bringing Parton into the movie felt especially important.

Dolly eventually contributed both newly recorded classics and original songs to the soundtrack.

One of those originals, “Girl in the Movies,” written with Linda Perry, earned Golden Globe and Grammy nominations.

And their collaboration produced a moment Aniston probably never expected:

Dolly Parton made her sing.

Dolly Got Jennifer Into the Recording Booth

For Dumplin’, Parton and Perry wrote “Push and Pull,” a song reflecting the complicated mother-daughter relationship at the center of the movie.

Then Dolly decided Aniston and costar Danielle Macdonald should appear on the recording.

There was one problem.

Aniston did not consider herself a singer.

She later described the experience as terrifying, saying she initially struggled even to get her voice out in the studio.

But she did it.

After completing the session, Aniston said she burst into tears from the emotion and nerves of the experience.

Dolly, meanwhile, praised her as a professional and said she had done well.

That episode now feels like a perfect real-life example of the advice Aniston shared at 92NY.

Aniston was frightened.

She did something outside her comfort zone anyway.

She chased the rainbow.

Dolly Had Been Part of Aniston’s Life Long Before Dumplin’

Aniston has spoken about admiring Dolly long before they worked together.

So collaborating with her on Dumplin’ carried a significance that went beyond making a soundtrack.

It was the kind of opportunity that can feel surreal even to someone who has already experienced enormous fame herself.

That may explain why the “rainbows” line stayed with her.

Dolly’s own life was built around improbable ambitions.

She grew up in poverty in East Tennessee and dreamed of becoming a star.

She moved to Nashville.

She became a country singer.

Then a songwriter whose compositions crossed genres.

Then an actress.

Then a businesswoman.

Then a philanthropist whose Imagination Library reached millions of children.

Not every project succeeded.

Dolly never pretended otherwise.

But she kept trying things.

The metaphor was autobiographical.

She had spent a lifetime chasing possibilities.

Their Connection Eventually Came Full Circle With 9 to 5

Years after Dumplin’, another Dolly project brought the two women together professionally again — at least indirectly.

Aniston began developing a reimagining of Dolly’s 1980 workplace comedy 9 to 5 through her Echo Films production company, with Oscar-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody writing the new screenplay.

The original movie starred Parton, Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin as three women who rebel against their sexist boss.

Before her death, Dolly had seen material from Aniston’s new version and spoke positively about it.

She said the updated script was “really good” and better suited to the realities of the modern workplace, where remote work and other changes made simply recreating the original story difficult.

Dolly was not planning to star in the new film.

But she had effectively given Aniston her blessing to carry another piece of her screen legacy forward.

That makes Aniston’s Sept. 2 remembrance feel especially poignant.

Their creative connection was not finished.

“Chase Rainbows” Sounds Different Now

When Dolly originally talked about catching rainbows, the line was an optimistic reflection on her own life.

After her death, it inevitably carries more weight.

Aniston is now one of many friends and collaborators taking pieces of Dolly’s philosophy forward.

For someone like Dolly, legacy was never going to exist only in recordings.

It would survive through stories people repeat.

Advice they remember.

Projects she encouraged.

And perhaps most importantly, the way she made other people believe their ambitions were worth pursuing.

That was what Aniston chose to share when an audience member asked her for wisdom.

She could have talked about Hollywood survival.

She could have discussed the lessons of fame, failure or decades in a notoriously difficult industry.

Instead, she gave them Dolly.

The Advice Was Simple Because Dolly Made It Simple

There is something appealing about the fact that the message was not complicated.

Dolly did not tell Jennifer Aniston that success required some elaborate formula.

She spoke in the language she had always used.

Dreams.

Color.

Hope.

Rainbows.

And importantly, she did not say every rainbow gets caught.

That may be the real wisdom inside the quote.

Some dreams work.

Some do not.

Some careers take unexpected turns.

Some opportunities disappear.

But you keep chasing.

Jennifer Aniston apparently remembered that lesson.

Days after losing the woman she called a “dear friend,” she stood in front of an audience in New York and passed it along.

Dolly Parton spent her life chasing rainbows.

She caught quite a few.

Now Jennifer Aniston’s advice is to do the same.