Annabel Croft has opened up about dealing with the 'horrendous' grief of losing her husband Mel to cancer and shared how Strictly Come Dancing was "therapy" for her, in an exclusive interview for our April issue.
The former tennis ace and TV presenter, 57, competed in the 2023 series of Strictly, partnering up with pro dancer Johannes Radebe and going on to reach the semi-final. But just months before her stint on the show, Annabel's husband Mel Coleman died, aged 60, after a short battle with colon cancer.
Mel had initially complained of pains in his side but scans later revealed that his colon cancer had spread "everywhere" in his body.
"I thought it was indigestion, then he kept saying the pains weren’t going away. One moment we were having a normal Christmas and New Year, and then, suddenly, by May, [he was] dead," Annabel told us.
"I still find it really hard to process. It’s like it's somebody else's life."
Despite struggling with moments of grief during her time on Strictly, Annabel says she knows now that being part of the show was something she needed to help with her healing process. After working with psychologist and grief therapist, Julia Samuel, Annabel was able to realise how much dancing with Johannes benefitted her, hailing Strictly and her dance partner "my therapy".
"[Julia] said, 'You do realise that dance is one of the best things for grief?' I didn’t know that, but I can see that now, having done it," Annabel explained.
"You’re distracting your brain, so you’re not wallowing and sobbing all day. It doesn’t stop [grief] completely and there were times when Johannes had to cope with that."
Speaking about how she deals with the loss of Mel on a day-to-day basis, Annabel touched on fellow former Strictly star Kate Garraway and her recent loss of husband Derek Draper, who died in January, aged 56, after almost four years of battling complications caused by Covid.
"Kate Garraway's been going through [grief] for a long time and it's a very different [scenario to mine], but I can imagine how she’s feeling. Grief is horrendous and I take every day as it comes," Annabel said, going on to detail the incredibly tough reality of coping without her husband.
"I try to fill the day with nice things, but when I’m on my own at home, if I start looking at pictures, I start sobbing. I have three piles of unopened letters [from well- wishers] and feel awful because people have been so kind to take the time to write, but every time I start to read them, I can’t stop crying.
"I'm too emotional and too raw at the moment. Christmas and New Year were really hard. There were a lot of tears because they’re such big markers, and because we had such a normal Christmas and New Year the previous year."
To raise funds for cancer and metabolic health research in Annabel’s late husband Mel Coleman’s memory, visit GoFundMe.
You can read Annabel's full exclusive interview with woman&home in the April issue of the magazine, on shelves from March 1st.
