Supermodel Cindy Crawford became determined to carve out a career for herself after witnessing her father withhold maintenance money from her mother after they divorced.

The brunette beauty's mother Jennifer and father John parted ways when she was younger, and Crawford reveals their split was far from amicable.

Crawford has opened up about the drama in a new interview with Oprah Winfrey, and credits her strong work ethic with her desire to have her own independence after witnessing her mother's financial struggle.

She says, "Unfortunately my parents, you know, were one of those couples that didn't make it. When they finally did really get divorced, my father would give my mother money every week for child support. But if he was mad at her because she'd gone out on a date or done something else, he wouldn't give her the money that week. And that sometimes meant we didn't get grocery money or gas money. And I saw that and I was like, 'This will never happen to me. I will never be in that situation where I can't take care of myself.'

"I'm lucky because in my career, I am financially independent. Even if I stopped working today, I could take care of myself."

However, Crawford's desire to be financially secure initially affected her relationship with now-husband Rande Gerber.

She adds, "For Rande, my husband, it was hard for him to get used to me not needing that from him. But there's still places in our relationship where I have to let him get that feeling.

"It's okay to lean on someone. I've had to learn to back down a little bit from that and to be okay, even if it's little things... But as a 16-year-old girl, seeing my mom having to plead for money every week to feed the kids, I just thought, 'I will never be in that situation."

The full interview airs in America on Sunday's (10Mar13) edition of Oprah's Master Class.