Duffy Pens Deeply Moving Essay About Being Drugged & Abducted While Celebrating Her Birthday

Welsh singer Duffy has outlined her rape and recovery in a moving message to fans, saying she cannot let the traumatic experience “cloud my life any more.”

Duffy, whose 2008 record Rockferry propelled her to worldwide fame, says she was drugged while celebrating her birthday, sedated over a period of four weeks, flown overseas, and forced to share a hotel room with her abuser.

“I do not know how I had the strength to endure those days, I did feel the presence of something that helped me stay alive,” she said.

The singer said she does not remember how she returned home, but came to live in continual fear of the perpetrator.

She did not immediately report the abuse to police for fears of the case being mishandled or exposed in the media.

What followed was a period of isolation, she said.

“The record label, live agents, promoters, publicists, musicians, stylists, hairdressers, make-up, lighting, production, crew, people I would meet, people I once knew. No one, utterly no one, knew what happened.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-nNtaCBYR6/

Duffy said she “fled” after the incident, becoming estranged to those closest to her.

“I moved five times in the immediate three years after, never feeling safe from the rapist, I was on the run for so long.”

Her fifth house provided a place to “spend solitary years to find the stability to recover”, she said.

Through those years, Duffy said she sought the help of an expert in complex trauma and sexual violence, and disclosed the identity of her abuser to two female police officers.

“The identity of the rapist should be only handled by the police, and that is between me and them,” she said.

She said she hoped her message would “put my wounds to the light where the dark can no longer keep me,” and wished peace for survivors who shared their own stories after she first revealed her abuse on Instagram.

Duffy said she is keen to release a new body of music, when the time is right. For now, she hopes to continue her recovery.

“I can now leave this decade behind. Where the past belongs,” she said.

“Hopefully no more “what happened to Duffy questions”, now you know … and I am free.”

You can read her full statement here.


Help is available.

If you require immediate assistance, please call 000.

If you’d like to speak to someone about sexual violence, please call the 1800 Respect hotline on 1800 737 732 or chat online.

Under 25? You can reach Kids Helpline at 1800 55 1800 or
chat online.

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