Kelly Clarkson became a household name back in 2002 after she won the first season of “American Idol,” and while she was beloved by millions of Americans, she is now saying that she was not treated well by her fellow celebrities.

During her eponymous talk show on Thursday, Clarkson thanked actress Jennifer Love Hewitt for being kind to her at a time that most famous people were being rude to her.

“You probably don’t remember this, but it stuck with me [for] so long, almost 20 years now,” Clarkson said. “But right after — you have no idea I’m about to say this and you probably don’t remember — but it was at some kind of MTV Awards or something or VMAs or something, I don’t know what it was, but you ran up to me. And it was right when like the final three I think of ‘Idol,’ and we were just so slammed and everything was happening like in a whirlwind and people like were really mean to us because we’re from a talent show and it was the first season.”

“Like, everyone was so rude to us, like, on the carpet, like at the show … it was so bad,” she added. “It was a horrible experience and you came up to me and ran up to me out of nowhere and were like, ‘Oh my gosh! I’m really rooting for you!’”

“You told me, ‘Please keep the ones you love so close and it’ll end up being about a few people in your life unfortunately, but this business can be really hard. And just remember to keep those people who really love you’ — and you just gave me this advice that was really, really kind in such an … unkind rather time for me personally,” Clarkson said. “So, thank you so much, it meant the world to me. You were so nice.”

 

This comes weeks after Clarkson admitted that her divorce from her husband Brandon Blackstock has been “horrible.”

“I’m going through one right now. It’s horrible,” she said of her divorce. “There are so many hard parts. The hardest for me is the kids. That’s the hardest for me.”

“I think, as women especially, we’re trained… to take it all on, and you can deal with it, and you’re fine, but it’s your babies that you worry about,” Clarkson added.

Court documents came out earlier this month confirming that Clarkson’s divorce had taken a nasty turn.

“The level of conflict between the parents has increased,” the documents stated. “The parties have a difficult time co-parenting due to issues of trust between them.”