Kelly Clarkson Gets Divorce Advice From First Lady Dr. Jill Biden: ‘Things Happen for the Best’

Kelly Clarkson is getting advice on divorce and second chances at love from none other than First Lady Dr. Jill Biden. In a new interview airing Thursday, Biden shared a valuable outlook on life with the singer and television host as she navigates her divorce from estranged husband Brandon Blackstock, to whom she was married for seven years. “This is what I would say to you if I were your mother,” Biden tells Clarkson in a clip from the upcoming interview on The Kelly Clarkson Show.

“My mother always said to me, ‘Things are going to look better tomorrow. And if you can take one day at a time, things will get better,’” the first lady continues. Biden has experience with divorce herself, splitting from husband Bill Stevenson after five years of marriage before meeting Joe Biden, her current husband and U.S. president, in 1975. “If I hadn’t gotten divorced, I never would’ve met Joe,” Biden reminds Clarkson. “I wouldn’t have the beautiful family I have now, so I really think things happen for the best.”

Biden said she knows the same second shot at love will happen for her as well. “I think, Kelly, over time — I don’t know how long it’s been for you — but, I think, over time you heal and you’re going to be surprised,” she says. “And I can’t wait until that day comes for you.”

Clarkson has been candid about her split from Blackstock, with whom she shares daughter River Rose, 6, and son Remington Alexander, 4, telling Khloé Kardashian earlier this month on her show that figuring out co-parenting had been “tough.” As Kardashian explained her situation with Tristan Thompson, with whom she shares 2-year-old daughter True, the American Idol winner added, “You speak about co-parenting, and I’m doing that right now too. It’s tough. … I know with me and Brandon, it’s just a difficult thing because we’re in different places, and it’s like, we both agree on the main things, but it’s a hard thing when you’re not together all the time, for me personally.”

Keeping their focus on the wellbeing of their children as they navigate this new way of life in their family has been how Clarkson and Blackstock have made it this far, she admitted. “As long as you make sure it’s about the children and their best interests, then we’re both on board,” said the mother of two at the time.