The one thing that would make Megan Gale quit modelling forever.

Image: Getty.

Australian supermodel and swimwear mogul, Megan Gale, has taken a stance against plastic surgery. On the eve of her 40^th birthday, Gale has revealed that she would rather quit modelling than go under the knife.

“If the time ever came that I wasn’t getting work or I didn’t have value anymore because I was ageing then I wouldn’t go ‘OK well, I need to get to fix it and get procedures done’; I would leave the industry,” she told The Australian Women’s Weekly.

Related: Megan Gale and Shaun Hampson are doing something that all long-term couples should. 

“I’m clearly mindful of the fact that I don’t look the same way that I did when I was 20,” remarked Gale, who has held modelling contracts with David Jones and L’Oreal for numerous years, and was associated with several Italian brands in the past.

While it can seem the norm for mature models to have a little “jab” here and there, it can be refreshing to hear Gale’s black and white views towards cosmetic surgery.

At the same time, it was also saddening to read Gale’s comments on her future worth. When aging is described as a potential loss of “value”, it diminishes Gale’s many personal qualities which have made her one of the most popular and successful Australian models of the past two decades.

Related: Kylie Jenner "can't leave the house without" this weight loss product. And it has experts worried.

And, one would hope that the only reason why Megan Gale would leave modelling is because she doesn't want to do it any more, rather than due to pressure to have her face augmented. (Post continues after gallery.)

At the height of Megan Gale’s tenure as a David Jones brand ambassador, I worked as a sales assistant in the David Jones Sydney city store. I helped out at one of the infamous DJ’s fashion parades one year, and I saw Megan Gale take to the catwalk. She would have been in her early 30s at the time.

In the same show, there were up-and-coming teenage models, but it was Megan Gale who truly shone. Yes, she was gorgeous and healthy, but it was more than that – it was her huge smile, and the way she took to that catwalk with power and sensuality.

Related: Megan Gale on juggling her fitness and beauty with a brand new baby. 

My then-fiance, now-husband and I crashed the after-party, and we were surrounded by Aussie celebrities, but again, it was Megan Gale who stole our gaze. Even though the party was held on a dark winter’s night, it was as though she was standing in her own sunbeam.

Again, it wasn’t her physical beauty which shone out – although, that was undeniably there – it was the way she smiled and spoke to everyone, and seemed to laugh at all the jokes. It was her personality which seemed to capture us all.

Is it unrealistic of me to hope that there will always be room for Megan Gale in the modelling industry, no matter what her age or appearance? Obviously, Gale knows what she’s talking about when it comes to modelling, as she’s survived and prospered in a famously cut-throat industry.

Related: Elle Macpherson: “It’s one thing to be 20 and gorgeous… and there’s another thing to be 51 years old”. 

Here’s hoping that, someday, we can evolve beyond declaring that a smart, engaging woman has no “value” because she is aging.