He had a model mother (8)
I believe the answer is:
whistler
'mother' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both people as well as being singular nouns.
I also know that 'mother' relates to this answer.
'he had a model' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'he' could be 'hi' and 'hi' is present in the answer.
'model' could be 't' (Ford Model T car) and 't' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for whistler that I've seen before include "American painter, 1834-1903" , "referee" , "pretending to be brave in the dark?" , "James ---, Rex ---, artists" , "He used canvas" .)