Alice Marie Johnson spent over two decades behind bars serving a life sentence for a first-offense drug crime before President Trump granted her clemency on June 6. This came a week after Kim Kardashian — who has advocated for Johnson’s release since 2017 — and her attorney met with Trump and Jared Kushner about the woman’s fate. Now that she walks free, did Alice Marie Johnson and Kim Kardashian meet in person?
After granting her clemency, Trump said that he wanted to do the same for other people who had been treated unfairly by the legal system. “I want to do people that are unfairly treated like an Alice,” he said, according to the Washington Examiner.
Did Alice Marie Johnson and Kim Kardashian meet?
Johnson did in fact meet Kardashian, whom she’s previously referred to as her benefactor, for the first time yesterday, June 13. They had a joint interview on the Today Show that aired in full Thursday morning.
The two sat down with NBC News’ Hoda Kotb to discuss Johnson’s release and how the 63-year-old grandmother found out about her commuted sentence. Johnson told Kotb that when Kardashian first posted about her case on social media, she didn’t know who the reality star was.
“I didn’t .. I did not know her name, I didn’t know Kim,” Johnson said. “As soon as I found out who she was, I started getting every magazine I could find.”
“Everyone was amazed, I was amazed, too,” Johnson recalled.
When asked why Kardashian began advocating on Johnson’s behalf, she said, “It became this mission that I didn’t want to give up. I think to some people it might seem like, ok, Kim made a phone call to the president, showed up…we had been in talks and working on this for seven months.”
Addressing her Oval Office visit with Trump, Kardashian said, “I explained to him where I found [Johnson], why I believe in her, how people deserve second chances, and immediately the president had compassion for her right away. He felt that it was the right thing to do.”
Watch the full Today Show interview below:
See @HodaKotb‘s full interview with Alice Marie Johnson and @KimKardashian pic.twitter.com/U1RcKnzIAE
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) June 14, 2018
In true Kardashian fashion, the celeb also taught Johnson, new to social media, how to use Snapchat for the first time.
“Alice has never used filters before so I’m showing her the ropes,” Kardashian said in a video. She then added, “Love you Alice!” To which Johnson replied, “Love you Kim!”
Watch the two try out some heart and bunny filters:
“I plan on continuing to magnify this issue,” Johnson said of those like her who feel they’ve been wronged by the legal system. “I can’t stop. … I lived it, I’ve walked with them, I’ve cried with them. My life is completely intertwined forever with those who are left behind.”
“[I]t can’t end here,” she concluded.
So, did Alice Marie Johnson and Kim Kardashian meet? Yes. And Johnson said that “thank you is not good enough,” she has to “live it out” for Kardashian and for her family. She’ll be spending her life post release with intention, purpose and, perhaps, a newfound love of Snapchat.
