Alice Johnson thanks Kim Kardashian West for her freedom in emotional first meeting

"I love this lady," Johnson said as she hugged Kardashian West at Johnson's sister's home in Memphis. The encounter was filmed by NBC as part of a segment that aired Thursday morning on the "Today" show.

Johnson, a first-time nonviolent drug offender who'd been serving a life sentence since 1996, was freed from prison last week after President Donald Trump commuted her sentence.

That commutation came just days after Kardashian West, who said she became interested in Johnson after seeing a story about her months ago on Twitter, pleaded Johnson's case to Trump in the Oval Office.

Johnson, 63, and Kardashian West had spoken previously by phone, including when Kardashian West told Johnson she'd be released. But Wednesday was their first in-person meeting.

The two sat together on a couch as they recalled the emotional moment Kardashian West shared the good news with Johnson.

"At first, I thought she (already) knew, because the news was starting to break," Kardashian West told NBC's Hoda Kotb. "I said, 'Wait, you don't know?' And she was like, 'Know what?'"

When Kardashian West told her, screams and cries came across the line.

"I believe she said, 'You can go home,'" Johnson recalled to Kotb. "When she said that, I went into full-fledged Pentecostal holy dance. I started screaming and jumping."

Johnson was convicted in 1996 of conspiracy to possess cocaine and attempted possession of cocaine. She spent a third of her life in prison.

Kardashian West has said her mission started months ago with a call to Ivanka Trump to plead Johnson's case and also to ask her for a meeting with her father.

The President's daughter connected Kardashian West with her husband, Jared Kushner, who took an interest in Johnson's case, according to Kardashian West.

During the Oval Office meeting with the President, Kardashian West said, she explained "why I believe in her, why people deserve second chances."

The President "had compassion for her (Johnson) right away," she told Kotb.

Last week, an emotional Johnson marveled at her freedom after more than two decades behind bars, grateful for a second chance -- and craving seafood.

President Barack Obama did not intervene in Johnson's case during his eight years in office because the Justice Department recommended denying Johnson's request for commutation. Three requests were made but never reached Obama's desk because he followed the Justice Department's recommendations, a senior Obama administration official told CNN.