On Wednesday’s (Nov. 29) Kelly Clarkson Show, the host asked guest Paris Hilton about a throwback picture the socialite/DJ recently posted of herself and pal Britney Spears way back in 2006 in which Hilton bragged that the dynamic duo “created” the idea of the selfie. Clarkson noted that like HIlton — who earlier this year released Paris: The Memoir — Spears has stepped up to give a first-hand account her life story in her recent best-selling tell-tell, The Woman in Me.

In the book, Clarkson noted that Spears wrote, “one of the people who was kindest to me when I really needed kindness was Paris Hilton.” Lamenting that good news doesn’t often get as much attention as awful news, Clarkson said it was cool to read something kind that lifted someone else up.

“I was crying when I read that, that really touched me,” said Hilton, who, like Spears, wrote about some very challenging times in her life in her book. “She’s just so strong, I love her so much and I’m just so proud of her for speaking her truth and writing this whole book. That quote meant a lot me when I read it.”

Clarkson — who also knows the rigors of being a young person thrust into the spotlight thanks to her rise to fame at 20 after winning American Idol in 2002 — said she could relate to both women’s rocky journeys. “I feel like there has to be purpose in the things that happen to us, the good and the bad. And I love that you’re a really big advocate for [the] troubled teen industry… because you had struggled,” Clarkson said.

Hilton said she’s proud of the impact she’s made by advocating for changes in the “troubled teen” industry to prevent the kind of abuse she said in her book she suffered she she was shuttled between different facilities where she was physically and mentally abused between the ages of 16-18.

Watch Hilton talk Spears on The Kelly Clarkson Show below.