Annabel Croft confesses she still sleeps with her late husband’s scarf as she speaks candidly about her grief 18 months after his passing

Annabel Croft has revealed she sleeps with her late husband’s scarf every night and still dresses to impress him.

The former tennis player, 58, who lost her partner Mel Coleman to cancer in May 2023, said she regrets not paying him enough compliments when he was alive as he always looked up to her.

Talking about the Style DNA PodcastThe Wimbledon presenter confessed: ‘I sleep with his scarf. I have his scarf that he used for all the treatments and everything, and it smells like him.

“So I go to bed and sleep with his scarf next to my pillow.”

He joked that he “didn’t really like” the scarf, adding, “It’s a horrible scarf.” But he loved it, so I sleep with him in my bed.”

The former tennis player, 58, who lost her partner Mel Coleman to cancer in May 2023, said she regrets not paying him enough compliments when he was alive (pictured in 2021).

Annabel also confessed that she often consciously wears clothes that she knows he loved like Mel did. “Always incredibly complimentary” about what I wore.

“He always made me feel like the most important woman in the world,” she continued.

‘He made me feel that way. And, you know, I loved wearing clothes for him, actually, because he loved everything I wore and he always complimented me.

And I will regret not having praised him enough. I always said that he was getting prettier and that he was aging much better than me, and that he was getting prettier every day.

“He was someone who aged well and became more handsome as he grew older.”

Annabel said she “really loved my fashion”, adding: “I’m conscious that I wear things that I know he would have loved.”

“So yeah, I’ll keep doing that.”

The star confessed that she recently wore a dress she had purchased days before he died.

The Wimbledon presenter confessed: ‘I sleep with his scarf. I have his scarf that he used for all the treatments and everything, and it smells like him’ (pictured in 2013)

The couple married in 1993 and share three adult children, Charlie, Amber and Lilly (pictured in 1988).

Annabel took part in Strictly last year with her partner Johannes Radebe and documented how it helped her overcome her grief.

“I brought it home and put it on to show him already I had visualized that I would wear that dress with him.

And I had always visualized, “oh, this is what I’m going to wear when we’re on vacation together.” And he really loved it.”

Remembering the dress recently, she explained: “Of course, I didn’t wear it until recently and then I realized, ‘Oh my God, that was the dress I bought right before she died.’

Mel passed away from colon cancer in May last year. He died just eight weeks after being diagnosed with the terminal illness.

The couple married in 1993 and share three adult children, Charlie, Amber and Lilly.