Jennifer Aniston has revealed the advice her "dear friend" Dolly Parton once gave her, days after the country music icon's death at age 80.
The 57-year-old actress shared the memory during a live interview with her boyfriend, Jim Curtis, at the 92nd Street Y in New York City on Wednesday. Though Aniston was the one asking questions of the 50-year-old author and self-described love guru, she took a moment to recall Parton's words.
"She would say, 'I chased a few rainbows and I caught some,'" Aniston said. "So I would say just go chase your dreams and go catch some rainbows. Chase rainbows."
Aniston called Parton a "dear friend" during the conversation. The two worked together on the 2018 film "Dumplin'," in which Aniston starred and Parton contributed music for the soundtrack.
Their film collaboration
"Dumplin'" centers on a plus-size teenager living in the shadow of her mother, a former beauty queen played by Aniston, who decides to enter her mother's beauty pageant in an act of rebellion. The daughter's inspiration comes from her devotion to Parton's music, which is why the singer contributed to the film's soundtrack.
Parton's death and final months
Parton died last week, and it emerged at the time that she had secretly been battling cancer, though the specific type was not disclosed. In an Instagram video announcing her death, her nephew Bryan Seaver shared that Parton had wished to "rest in a beautiful bed of plush cotton because after a life of wearing heavy rhinestones, she finally deserves to be comfortable and have some rest."
Seaver said his aunt had "lived in the light" and was now "in the arms of Jesus," alongside her late husband Carl Dean, her parents and "countless others who have watched her and longed to meet her in the heavens."
Dean died in March 2025 at age 82, of causes that have remained private, two months before what would have been his and Parton's 59th wedding anniversary.
Parton, often called the Queen of Country, had an illustrious music career spanning six decades and was best known for hits including "Jolene" and "9 to 5." The fourth of 12 children, six of whom are still living, she was born in Pittman Center, Tennessee, on January 19, 1946.
Her death followed months of health problems that led her to cancel a string of public appearances, fueling concern among fans about her wellbeing. In an interview published just four days before she died, Parton said she still had "so many things I want to achieve" and vowed to keep "working as long as I can to see everything come to life," according to People. She explained she had been dealing with "some health issues that I just didn't pay attention to when I was watching over Carl."
The story behind 'Jolene'
Parton once told NPR that her 1973 classic "Jolene" was partly inspired by a bank teller who developed a flirtatious relationship with Dean. "She got this terrible crush on my husband," Parton said. "And he just loved going to the bank because she paid him so much attention. It was kinda like a running joke between us, when I was saying: 'Hell, you're spending a lot of time at the bank. I don't believe we've got that kind of money.'"
Years later, performing 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 a stop to that. I got rid of that redhead woman in a hurry."
How Parton and Dean met
Parton and Dean met at a Nashville laundromat in 1964, when she was 18 and he was 21, and they married in May 1966. "I'd never been in a laundromat before," she recalled in the 2023 documentary "Dolly Parton: In Her Own Words." "I walked outside there was this good-looking man that drove by the Wishy Washy Laundromat. And he pulled over to the side. So, we started talking and we married two years later."
Dean remained a constant, supportive presence behind the scenes throughout Parton's decades of superstardom, though he largely avoided the spotlight himself. In 2024, Parton offered a rare glimpse into their marriage, explaining on Bunnie XO's "Dumb Blonde" podcast why her husband refused to attend events with her.
A telling moment came early in their marriage, when Parton persuaded Dean to attend an awards show in 1967 where she won song of the year. The outing made such an impression on her "homebody" husband that he told her: "I wish you the best, but don't ever ask me to go to another one of these damn things because I ain't going."
A marriage built on humor
The couple, who renewed their vows in 2016 at their Nashville home, used humor to defuse tension throughout their decades-long relationship. Parton described her husband as "hilarious," saying: "He's quiet and I'm loud, and we're funny, we have a lot of fun. Anytime [there is] too much tension going on, either one of us can like, find a joke about it to really break the tension, where we don't let it go so far. We never fought back and forth."
After Dean's death last year, Parton wrote a tribute to their "many wonderful years together," adding: "Words can't do justice to the love we shared for over 60 years. Thank you for your prayers and sympathy."
