Ashley Biden Praises Dad Joe Biden amid Divorce from Howard Krein

As Ashley Biden navigates a difficult period, she’s “so grateful” to have dad Joe Biden by her side.

On Saturday, Aug. 30, the activist and daughter of the former president and Dr. Jill Biden documented a father-daughter hike at Cape Henlopen State Park in Delaware, and expressed her gratitude for her dad, 82. The post came less than three weeks after Ashley, 44, filed for divorce from her husband, Dr. Howard Krein.

After sharing some shots of the state park’s scenery, Ashley shared a selfie with her dad on Instagram Stories, smiling widely as she walked alongside the former president. The pair both sported baseball caps and comfortable clothes in the outdoor shot.

“Chicken soup for my soul,” Ashley wrote alongside the father-daughter photo. “I feel so grateful for our walks and talks. 🥇 Dad!”

The former first daughter followed up the tribute to her father — whom she has previously called her “best friend” — with another Instagram Stories post, this time a solo selfie. She smiled in the up-close snap, which she adorned with a sticker that read, “Peace of Mind.”

Ashley filed for divorce from Krein, a plastic surgeon, earlier this month, after 13 years of marriage. The activist — who married Krein, 58, on June 2, 2012 — filed the documents in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas on Aug. 11, The Philadelphia Inquirer previously reported, citing her representative.

On the same day, Ashley shared a photo of herself giving a thumbs-up while walking through a park, soundtracked to Beyoncé’s “Freedom,” on Instagram Stories, the Philadelphia newspaper reported. According to the outlet, she had also reposted the quote, “New life, new beginnings means new boundaries. New ways of being that won’t look or sound like they did before,” set to “Freedom Time” by Lauryn Hill.

Ashley and Krein first started dating in the summer of 2010, after meeting through Beau Biden, one of the former first daughter’s two older half-brothers. They then got engaged in October 2011 after Krein proposed at sunset on a cliff in Big Sur, Calif. 

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Of Krein asking for his permission to marry his daughter, Joe previously told PEOPLE, “This is the right guy. And he’s getting a helluva woman.”

As previously reported by PEOPLE, the pair tied the knot in Greenville, Del., in 2012. Their ceremony, held at St. Joseph on the Brandywine Roman Catholic Church, combined the bride’s Catholic traditions and the groom’s Jewish ones.

Speaking with PEOPLE in the days leading up to the nuptials, the former president prepared for the emotional experience of giving away the youngest of his four children.

“I kept telling Ash, we’ve got to open up the church and practice walking up and down the aisle so I can handle it,” Joe told PEOPLE at the time.

While reminiscing about the only other time he’d seen his daughter in a veil (at her First Communion), Joe added: “I think to myself, aw, God, my little girl! This can’t have passed so quick.”