Young Reese Witherspoon got career advice from Jennifer Aniston

Reese Witherspoon once turned to Jennifer Aniston for career advice while playing her character's sister on Friends more than a decade ago.

The Legally Blonde star toasted her pal at Elle's Annual Women in Hollywood gala on Monday (17Oct11) and she recalled a touching moment the two shared together back in 1999 - when they were playing sisters.

Witherspoon revealed she almost lost the chance to appear on Friends when she froze on set and had to rely on Aniston to help her pull through.

She said, "In all my enthusiasm, I completely forgot something crucial... I had never been on television (or) in front of a live audience ever in my entire life. And I panicked! I totally froze! I couldn't remember my lines and the writers were yelling... I just stood there absolutely completely frozen."

"(She said,) 'Hey, are you OK? You're kind of freaking me out! You're going to make a mistake and you're going to flip your line and whatever - and the audience is going to love it. Don't try to be perfect, just try to be yourself.'"

"That's the story that sort of captured Jen the best for me. On one hand, she is this gorgeous breathtaking beauty that men lose their thought process and their speech patterns (over). I've actually seen this, it's incredible when they see her. And, on the other hand, she is a woman who lets you in.

"There's not that many people actually that have this incredible combination of sex appeal and complete love-ability. You just want to get your nails done with her, and you want to make out with her at the same time... at least I do!"