Cindy Crawford is retiring from modelling

The 49-year-old beauty is calling time on her career - which has lasted for over 20 years - and stepping away from the camera after she turns 50 on February 20 because she doesn't want to keep "proving" herself.

Cindy - who quit full-time modelling in 2000 - told United Airlines' Rhapsody magazine: "I'm sure I'll have my picture taken for 10 more years, but not as a model anymore.

"And that's OK. I've done it. I've worked with all these incredible photographers.

"What else do I need to do? I can't keep reinventing myself.

"I shouldn't have to keep proving myself. I don't want to."

Cindy - who has son Presley, 16, and daughter Kaia, 14, with husband Rande Gerber - recently admitted she is planning to "embrace" being 50 and wants to grow old gracefully.

She said: "Women like Helen Mirren and Jane Fonda, they look amazing and they look appropriate. They look amazing but they're not trying to look 30. I don't want to be trying to compete with my 14-year-old daughter [Kaia Gerber] - because I would lose!

"I always thought, 'When can I just let it all go?' It's just never. There is no age now! It was the aspect of embracing turning 50 and celebrating the past, but at the same time I am embracing where I am."