Cynthia Ann "Cindy" Crawford Puts a Fullstop To Her Iconic Career

Cindy Crawford who is turning fifty this February has announced her retirement from the modeling industry. She recently looked stunning in the SS16 campaign for the house of Balmain. Speaking to United Airlines' Rhapsody magazine, Cindy says, "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 Crawford was discovered at the age of 16 from Illinois and was first pictured by a local photographer who took her picture for the local paper while she was working on a nearby farm detasseling corn. In 1983, she entered the Elite Model Look contest in Acapulco, and landed in the top 12 finalists after which she abandoned her university scholarship – in chemical-engineering!

Cindy was offered her first Vogue cover in 1986 when she moved to New York. Soon she appeared on many of the magazine covers. Nicknamed 'Baby Gia', Crawford went on to become one of the original supermodels, alongside Christy Turlington, , Claudia Schiffer, Linda Evangelista and Naomi Campbell.

Crawford's announcement comes in the wake of her autobiography Becoming – published by Rizzoli – which was released last September. How does she feel about her upcoming fiftieth? "The fact that I am doing work that I love, have a good relationship with my husband, beautiful kids, all of that makes it not totally painless – because there's still some yearning for what was – but what would I trade for it? What day or what experience of my life would I give up to be younger? Nothing."