- Welsh singer Duffy, best known for her 2008 pop hit, "Mercy," revealed in an Instagram post in February that she was "raped and drugged and held captive over some days."
- She shared further details more than a month later in a personal message on her website. Her original Instagram is now deleted.
Update, 4/6:
More than a month after first speaking out on Instagram, Welsh singer Duffy has further opened up about being drugged, held captive, and sexually assaulted—a traumatic event that led her to stay out of the public spotlight over the past several years. In the moving note published on her website, she explained her experience in detail, saying that she was drugged on her birthday and for the weeks following, then brought to a foreign country with her perpetrator.
“It was my birthday, I was drugged at a restaurant, I was drugged then for four weeks and travelled to a foreign country,” she wrote. “I can’t remember getting on the plane and came round in the back of a travelling vehicle. I was put into a hotel room and the perpetrator returned and raped me. I remember the pain and trying to stay conscious in the room after it happened.”
Duffy said she thought about running away, but she had no cash and was worried her captor would track her down. “I flew back with him, I stayed calm and as normal as someone could in a situation like that, and when I got home, I sat, dazed, like a zombie,” she added. “I knew my life was in immediate danger, he made veiled confessions of wanting to kill me. With what little strength I had, my instinct was to then run, to run and find somewhere to live that he could not find.”
She continued, “The perpetrator drugged me in my own home in the four weeks, I do not know if he raped me there during that time, I only remember coming round in the car in the foreign country and the escape that would happen by me fleeing in the days following that.”
The singer shared that someone found her in her home, on her balcony, looking dazed and sickly. She doesn’t even remember how she got home. Afterward, she was scared to approach the police in fear that her assaulter would retaliate. Duffy finally went to the authorities when someone blackmailed her, threatening to reveal her story. She said the identity of the rapist remains between her and the police.
Duffy started seeing a psychologist, “a leading expert in the UK in complex trauma and sexual violence,” whom she credits for helping her mentally and emotionally cope with the experience.
“I have no shame in telling you either I had spent almost ten years completely alone and it still burns my heart to write it,” she wrote. “I owe it to myself to say it, I feel obliged to explain how challenging recovering truly was and to finally disclose it. I hope it comforts you to feel less ashamed if you feel alone.”
During Duffy’s time of healing, her loved ones who wanted to help her were “too far away,” she said. Being isolated also hurt some of her relationships. “The toll of me hiding, this last decade, also meant I was estranged from all,” she said.
Before diving into her story, Duffy explained that she was moved to publicly speak out after a man told her that “most men would run a mile if they knew you were raped.” She recalled feeling “crumbled” after hearing that. “I felt very hurt for a few days and reflected a lot and I thought, one night, like an epiphany, that the knowledge of my truth ‘makes me no less lovable,’” she said.
Now, Duffy hopes to “leave this decade behind. Where the past belongs,” she wrote. “Hopefully no more ‘what happened to Duffy questions,’ now you know … and I am free.”
Original story, 2/25:
Duffy, who climbed the pop charts in 2008 for her hit "Mercy," has remained out of the spotlight and relatively quiet on the music front following her mainstream success in the late 2000s. Although she broke out when similar artists with vintage-inspired sounds like Adele and Amy Winehouse were also having their moments, she didn't release another album after her 2010 LP, Endlessly. In an emotional Instagram post today, however, the singer explained the painful reason for her absence.
"Many of you wonder what happened to me, where did I disappear to and why," part of Duffy's caption read. "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."
Duffy continued, explaining why it didn't feel right to open up about her experience until now, "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."
She added that she'll reveal more details in a "spoken interview" set to release in the coming weeks. She was also open to answer questions from concerned fans. Most importantly, though, she expressed her "sacred love and sincere appreciation for your kindness over the years."
Duffy also asked for the public not to intrude on her family and asked for support "to make this a positive experience." This is the only post on her Instagram page. In the comments, followers expressed love for the singer and praised her for her bravery and strength.
Read her full post below.
Erica Gonzales is the Senior Culture Editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage on TV, movies, music, books, and more. She was previously an editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com. There is a 75 percent chance she's listening to Lorde right now.
