Cindy Crawford has spoken out about her divorce from Richard Gere 18-years ago, claiming that their age gap was to fault.

Age is nothing more than a number. But not for Cindy Crawford, who blamed her marriage failure to their 15-year age gap.

The stars met during a star-studded BBQ at the late photographer Herb Ritts’ house.

“There were a lot of really cool people there. I was like, ‘Wow! Jack Nicholson!'” Crawford recalled during Oprah’s Master Class. “I was 21. It was still all new to me. I met Richard Gere there. We pretty much started dating right away. When I was with him, that’s when I was becoming well-known as well.”

According to US magazine, the couple married when Cindy Crawford was 25 and Gere was 42, but divorced after four years of marriage in 1995.

“I just think your twenties for women is such a time when you’re starting to come into your own and feel your own power and connect to your inner strength and it’s hard to do that – it’s hard to change – in a relationship, because what one person might have signed up for, all of a sudden, you’re not that anymore,” she said.

However, she felt stifled in her growth as a result of her subordinate role in Gere’s increasing Hollywood success.

“I think I was more willing at 22 to be, like, ‘Okay, I’ll follow,’ but then you start going, ‘Well, I don’t want to just follow — I want to lead sometimes and I want to walk side by side sometimes.'”

In 1998, Cindy married restaurateur Rande Gerber. While Gere married model and actress Carey Lowell in 2002, the pair raised their son Presley, 13, and daughter Kaia, 11.

Crawford, on the other hand, credits the “Pretty Woman” actor with teaching her how to handle her rising fame.

“When I would see how he was with fans when they approached him, a lot of the times it wouldn’t be a good moment to sign an autograph, shake a hand or sign a picture. But I got to look to him to see how he created boundaries for himself that felt good,” Crawford said. “Being a nice girl fro the Midwest, my inclination is always to give and say yes because I want people to like me. But then I saw Richard do it in a way that was like, ‘You know what? Sorry, I’m not doing that. But I see you. He felt it was really just about making that connection, looking someone in the eyes and making sure that they felt seen.”

Crawford’s memories of her marriage to Gere are full of lessons, and the actress has a bittersweet fondness for it.

“It was a great chapter in my life,” she continued.

In the interview, Crawford also opens up about her looks (“I felt judged by the way that I looked. I think it set me on a course to represent myself as someone with a brain”).