Duffy Shares Harrowing Story That Caused Her Absence From Public Life

Welsh singer Duffy (born Aimee Anne Duffy) made waves years ago with her hit song “Mercy,” and the album Rockferry was a big part of my high school and college listening experience. She last released an album in 2010, and then seemed to vanish without explanation. Yesterday, Duffy went to Instagram to explain that the reason for her absence was dealing with the aftermath of a deeply traumatic experience.

**Content Warning: Rape, abuse, and kidnapping.**

 

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You can only imagine the amount of times I thought about writing this. The way I would write it, how I would feel thereafter. Well, not entirely sure why now is the right time, and what it is that feels exciting and liberating for me to talk. I cannot explain it. Many of you wonder what happened to me, where did I disappear to and why. A journalist contacted me, he found a way to reach me and I told him everything this past summer. He was kind and it felt so amazing to finally speak. The truth is, and please trust me I am ok and safe now, I was raped and drugged and held captive over some days. Of course I survived. The recovery took time. There’s no light way to say it. But I can tell you in the last decade, the thousands and thousands of days I committed to wanting to feel the sunshine in my heart again, the sun does now shine. You wonder why I did not choose to use my voice to express my pain? I did not want to show the world the sadness in my eyes. I asked myself, how can I sing from the heart if it is broken? And slowly it unbroke. In the following weeks I will be posting a spoken interview. If you have any questions I would like to answer them, in the spoken interview, if I can. I have a sacred love and sincere appreciation for your kindness over the years. You have been friends. I want to thank you for that x Duffy Please respect this is a gentle move for me to make, for myself, and I do not want any intrusion to my family. Please support me to make this a positive experience.

A post shared by @ duffy on Feb 25, 2020 at 10:12am PST

Duffy explained that she was raped, drugged, and held captive over a period of “some days.” Eventually, she escaped and survived, but the reason for all this time away was for her to heal from that experience.

“You wonder why I did not choose to use my voice to express my pain? I did not want to show the world the sadness in my eyes,” she explains. “I asked myself, how can I sing from the heart if it is broken? And slowly it unbroke.”

In the coming weeks, there will be a spoken interview that will answer any question that people may have. I think that’s a powerful thing to do, even though we are not at all entitled to that kind of information from her about this deeply traumatic experience. I’m glad that she took the time to heal rather than feel the pressure to quickly rush back into singing. That kind of pain needs time to truly heal, and it sounds like, at least right now, Duffy is in a place where she can take full ownership of this story and use her voice the way she wants.

I am looking so forward to hearing what comes next from this fantastic talent.

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