Duffy: ‘My heart was broken… but slowly it unbroke’

The singer returns to public life to reveal her horrific rape story

Whatever happened to Duffy? It’s a question that has been asked frequently since the singer disappeared from the limelight a decade ago. But last week , the singer revealed the terrible reason behind her decision to put her promising career on hold almost ten years ago. Posting on Instagram, the 35 year old told her followers that she’d quit singing after being “raped and drugged and held captive over some days”, adding that, for a long time, she “did not want to show the world the sadness in my eyes”.

The Welsh singer, who found fame in 2008 with the release of her smash-hit song Mercy, explained that, over the years, she’d constantly thought about telling fans about her horrific experience, but that “now is the right time”. She explained, “Many of you wonder what happened to me, where did I disappear to and why… 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.”

Following the release of her debut album in 2008, Duffy was the biggest female artist in the UK, but in 2011, it was announced she’d be taking a break from music. One insider revealed at the time, “She wants to have a quiet life and start over.” Since then, she largely remained quiet up until last year, when she posted a picture of herself to her Facebook page with the caption “#2020”. Speaking about her retreat from fame in her revelatory post last week, the singer said, “I asked myself, ‘How can I sing from the heart if it is broken?’ And slowly it unbroke”.

She didn’t reveal any more details of the harrowing incident that derailed her life, but revealed she would be giving a “spoken interview” in the next few weeks, in which she’d answer all her fans’ questions. She also paid tribute to her followers for their “kindness over the years”. She added, “You have been friends. I want to thank you for that.” ■

‘The recovery took time. There’s no light way to say it’