Annabel Croft is a very famous personality known for various things. However, the thing for which she is most famous happens to be her successful albeit short-lived career in tennis. Annabel Croft retired from playing professional tennis at the age of twenty-one. She felt that she was too lonely traveling all across the globe for her tournaments and always knew that she wanted to settle down and get married. The tennis star found another career by replacing Anneka Rice on Treasure Hunt. This kickstarted her television career, which proved to be just as successful as her tennis career, if not more.
She started appearing on television as a tennis reporter, anchor, and more for various big names, which further solidified her television career. The retirement from tennis was also due to her broken relationship with the sport, which she managed to heal over time.
She met her husband, yachtsman Mel Coleman, when she was planning to retire. She married Coleman six years after meeting him, and the two gave birth to three children, two girls and one boy. She unfortunately lost her husband of thirty years in May 2023, aged 60, shortly after he was diagnosed with cancer.
Annabel Croft pays tribute to her late husband on ‘Strictly’
‘Strictly’ or ‘Strictly Comes Dancing’ is a dancing show in which celebrities from various fields compete with each other to win the grand prize. Many celebrities have competed in the show, and all have seemed to enjoy it. Earlier this year, it was announced that the former tennis sensation and now television star Annabel Croft would be competing as a contestant in the show. Annabel recently lost her husband and has been mourning him. She joined the television show with the intent of ‘finding joy’ after her recent loss.
Mel Coleman, Annabel’s husband, was a big fan of the show and used to make Croft watch it regularly. Croft also revealed that her husband used to cry watching the show and was overall a major fan. Croft is paired with Johannes Radebe as her choreographer and partner. According to Croft and her children, Radebe has been a big support and a pillar for Croft during the entire show. Recently, the pair performed ‘Wings’ by Birdy, which was meant as a tribute to her late husband.
Croft mentioned to Mailonline that she was emotional the night before the show was set to start because her husband wasn’t there, and there was no one to comfort her. She also said that it was a weird sensation that she was about to go on stage in front of millions of people and would have to be jolly and happy, but she was currently remembering her husband and crying to herself.
Croft has mentioned many times that her husband was her pillar, and the two were deeply in love. It seems that his loss hit her hard, and it is something that she hasn’t been able to fathom.
The performance itself was mind-blowing, and the judges were left misty-eyed. At the end of the performance, Annabel Croft blew a kiss to the heavens as a tribute to her husband. Her love for her husband was apparent in the performance, and it managed to move many hearts.
The judges commented that it seemed that Mel was right there with Croft and reiterated that the performance was amazing. Their wonder and amazement regarding the performance was reflected in their scores as Croft received her highest score to date in the show.
It seems that the audience agreed with the judges’ opinions, as there were multiple posts and comments of support on social media. Many people commented that the performance was heart-wrenching and it made them cry. People had mixed emotions about the performance as some were delighted to see the love Croft still possessed for her husband, whilst others were heartbroken by the sadness.
Despite everything, Croft mentioned to Lorraine that the show was a ‘welcome distraction’ and she was enjoying her time on the show. She said that she liked using her body for dancing and was giving rest to her brain from thinking too many dark thoughts. As ‘Strictly’ is only halfway through, viewers are hoping that Croft will give more such performances.
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