'Strictly Come Dancing's Annabel Croft has offered Kate Garraway advice on coping with grief.
Annabel Croft offers Kate Garraway advice on grief
Annabel, 57, lost her husband Mel Coleman in May 2023 just weeks after he was diagnosed with cancer, while Kate's spouse Derek Draper died in January from COVID-19 complications, almost four years after he first contracted the virus.
Annabel told Woman Home magazine: "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. 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. We were a tight little unit anyway, but losing Mel has brought me closer to my children. We have our set places at the dinner table. It’s like The Three Bears – Mum sits there, Dad always sat there and the kids in the middle – and when we sit around that table for meals, we talk about Mel and his amazing humour, and that keeps him there."
Although Annabel has praised 'Strictly' for giving her something to focus on during her grief, she admitted her kids were worried about her weight loss during the competition.
She said: "My kids were getting worried because during Strictly I went really scrawny. I couldn’t keep [weight] on with eight hours of dance a day.
"I lost about 10lb. It’s probably gone back on now. I need to find a dance class to keep going and, right now, I’m the fittest I’ve ever been. I try to exercise every day. I walk, do yoga, play tennis twice a week for pure enjoyment, and run cross-country with a group on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday for about 40 minutes. I like being outside in the fresh air. I can’t bear the idea of going into a sweaty gym."