Naomi Campbell's French 40th

Mar 25, 2010, 10:33 GMT

Naomi Campbell will celebrate her 40th birthday on the French Riviera.

The supermodel - who celebrates the milestone date in May - is leaving her Russian billionaire boyfriend Vladimir Doronin to organise the party, which is expected to coincide with the Cannes Film Festival.

A source said: "Vladimir is planning and paying for the whole event, which is slated for May 22 in or near Cannes. There will be a series of events for Naomi leading up to the big party at a secret location, which is believed to be on a super-yacht."

Vladimir - who first met Naomi at the 2008 Cannes festival when they both attended a party on a yacht moored off St. Tropez - will reportedly spend millions of pounds to ensure his girlfriend has the perfect evening with her celebrity friends.

The source continued to the New York Post newspaper: "Naomi's birthday is going to be as lavish as other recent big celebrity 40th birthdays, such as Sean Combs, Jay-Z and Simon Cowell. Invites are already being sent out and people are expected to jet in from New York, London and Moscow."

The fiery beauty recently spoke about how her 40th birthday would be a turning point for her because she'd battled through so many problems over the years.

She said: "I thought I'd never actually make this birthday. I've had times when it was hard for me to look at myself in the mirror, because I didn't really like who I was... Anger wasn't the only one of my issues - I have lots of them."