Naomi Campbell: My temper may stem from childhood abandonment

Naomi Campbell fought back tears as she said her infamous temper had its roots in being abandoned as a child. (Reuters)

Naomi Campbell fought back tears as she said her infamous temper had its roots in being abandoned as a child.

In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, the supermodel said she felt "ashamed" of her behaviour.

Her mother, Valerie Morris, who had Campbell when she was 19, left her daughter in another person's care while she travelled the world to pursue her dream of being a ballerina.

Morris, who was sitting in the audience with Campbell's Russian tycoon boyfriend Vladimir Doronin, told Winfrey: "I do feel that I abandoned her. Looking back on that, you know, you sort of realise that material possessions are not the only thing that a child needs. But, sometimes, that child needs its biological mother."

Campbell, who had tears in her eyes after her mother spoke, said of her own behaviour: "It's not just, 'I don't get what I want. I throw'. It comes from, I think, an abandonment issue, and it comes from also just trying to build up a family around me that's not my immediate family. And if I feel a mistrust, then I really just ... all my cards go down."

The 39-year-old added that she felt "ashamed of everything I've ever done. I take responsibility for the things that I have done, and I do feel a great sense of shame", she said.

In 2008, Campbell was sentenced to 200 hours' community service after admitting kicking and spitting at officers on board a BA plane at Heathrow airport.

In 2007, she had to clean floors in a New York municipal warehouse as part of a community service order for throwing a mobile phone at her housekeeper.

In 2000, she admitted assaulting PA Georgina Galanis with a phone and threatening to throw her out of a car.