Annabel Croft has opened up about how Strictly Come Dancing has helped her deal with the grief of losing her husband, Mel Coleman, to cancer.
The tennis star, 57, told Lorraine Kelly how dancing has helped her rest her brain from ‘thinking too many dark thoughts’.
Annabel’s late husband and father to their three children Charlie, Amber and Lilly, died earlier this year, aged 60, a few weeks after he was diagnosed with stage three cancer.
The former America’s Cup yachtsman passed away just two months after he started complaining of stomach pain.
Annabel said of her dancing role: ‘It’s been a nice distraction from grief.
Grieving: Annabel Croft, 57, opened up on Lorraine Kelly on Wednesday about how Strictly has helped her deal with the grief of losing her husband Mel Coleman to cancer
Duo: The tennis star, pictured with her new professional dancing partner, Johannes Radebe, revealed how dancing has helped her rest her brain from ‘thinking too many dark thoughts’
Her love: The tennis star wept for weeks after her husband, Mel Coleman, died in May, (pictured together in June 2021)
‘It’s been nice to do something joyful and use my body and try to rest my brain from thinking too many dark thoughts.’
The radio presenter previously revealed she was in a dark place following Mel’s passing and she cried every day in the weeks following the loss.
The tragedy is what inspired her to take part in the competition because Mel ‘was a big fan’.
Before starting the show, she said she hoped the gruelling training schedule would help take her mind off the heartache and help her ‘find some joyfulness’.
Since being on the show, Annabel has revealed that her spirits are higher and the competition has allowed her to get stuck into a new challenge.
Annabel said her new Strictly partner, Johannes Radebe, is ‘the most amazing human being’ as she applauded his kindness and patience.
Perfect match: Annabel said her new Strictly partner, Johannes Radebe, is ‘the most amazing human being’ as she applauded his kindness and patience
Annabel said, ‘I have struck gold. Johannes is just the most amazing human being.
‘You have the most amazing energy, incredible kindness and patience. You are an unbelievable dancer, but also an unbelievable teacher.’
But her time on the dancefloor will be bittersweet without her husband of 31 years there to cheer her on.
‘He always loved the show and he used to cry watching it,’ she said previously. ‘So I’m completely heartbroken that he’s not here to watch with me.’
Just weeks after Mel’s death, Annabel was bravely back at work, conducting post-match interviews as part of the BBC’s coverage of the Wimbledon finals and overseeing the ceremony in which winners Marketa Vondrousova and Carlos Alcaraz received their trophies.
Mel, a successful investment banker who took part in the America’s Cup and more recently ran a tennis school with his wife, was noted for his apparently perfect health and, like Ms Croft, enjoyed an active outdoors lifestyle.
After Covid lockdowns, the two of them converted an old delivery van into a mobile home and took it around the country and into Europe on walking holidays.
Shortly after he died, Annabel said: ‘My beloved husband Mel passed away peacefully on Wednesday morning after a short battle with cancer.
Long-term love: The couple pictured together in 1996 – their paths crossed quite by chance when Annabel was at a crisis point in her life
Throwback: Mel, a successful investment banker who took part in the America’s Cup and more recently ran a tennis school with his wife, was noted for his apparently perfect health and, like Ms Croft, enjoyed an active outdoors lifestyle. Pictured when they were engaged
Tough time: Annabel had been on the tennis tour for nearly six years and was lonely, stressed and lost by the demands of incessantly competing when she met Mel – Pictured: At Wimbledon in 1987
‘My family and I are completely heartbroken and ask for privacy at this very sad time.’
Earlier this year Annabel, a former British number one, recalled that her path crossed with Mr Coleman’s quite by chance when she was at a crisis point.
Aged 21, she was at the US Open having a pep talk from fellow player John Newcombe, who suggested that she should think about what she wanted to do with her life as she seemed unhappy.
She had been on the tennis tour for nearly six years and was lonely, stressed and lost by the demands of incessantly competing.
‘As we were having this chat, I got a text from my mother saying the BBC production office in Belfast were asking whether I’d be interested in filming a programme about yacht racing.
‘I’d never been on a yacht before, but it ended up with me, Eamonn Holmes and Peter Skellern going off to Guernsey to shoot a programme where we learnt how to race a yacht.
‘Mel, who had just got back from Australia after the America’s Cup, was one of the yachtsmen and that is how we met.
‘After a day’s filming we’d all go to the pub, have dinner – it sounds weird, but I’d never really done that – and I remember thinking, gosh this is really fun and normal, and I want a bit more of this rather than getting up and putting on a tracksuit and stressing about whether my backhand is working today.’
They married six years later.
