NEW YORK • Singer Janet Jackson on Wednesday showed off her baby bump, confirming that she is pregnant with her first child at the age of 50.

People magazine carried an exclusive photograph of a smiling Jackson, standing on a beach with her hand on her abdomen.

"We thank God for our blessing," the singer told the celebrity outlet. She gave no further details.

She called off her Unbreakable world tour in April in a cryptic video in which she said she was planning her family and had to rest.

Jackson, the fiercely private youngest child of the famed Jackson singing family, married her third husband, Qatari businessman Wissam al Mana, in 2012.

His company sells luxury fashion brands throughout Gulf Arab kingdoms.

Natural pregnancies are highly unusual, but not impossible, for women past their mid-40s, but in-vitro fertilisation can extend the age at which women can have children.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE