Warning: This article contains discussion of sexual assault, rape, and suicide which some readers may find distressing.
The singer Duffy has made an appearance in public for the very first time after taking a 10-year hiatus, after revealing a horrifying crime against her.
Duffy (real name Aimée Anne Duffy) is now making her return to music after she posted a cameo in a social media video earlier this year, which showed her lip syncing to a remix of her hit song 'Mercy' and winking at the camera.
Five years ago, the Welsh singer was kidnapped for four weeks and taken to a foreign country.
Advert
Years later, she chose to reveal all on her website so that she could move past the event, telling her fans that she is now ‘free’ after admitting to having been brought to the brink of suicide.
Duffy's traumatic ordeal
In 2020, the singer revealed she had been abducted as she celebrated her birthday at a restaurant.
The hit-maker explained that she had then been drugged and taken to a foreign country, where she was allegedly raped by an assailant.
Duffy shared her story, stating: "It was my birthday, I was drugged at a restaurant, I was drugged then for four weeks and travelled to a foreign country.
"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."
She said she was with him for one more day where he ‘didn’t look at me’ and she ‘was to walk behind him, I was somewhat conscious and withdrawn’.
While she admitted to thinking about ‘running away’ as he slept, she explained that she had no money and that he could call the police to report her as a missing person, which could go very wrong for her if they returned her to him.
The Brit and Grammy award-winner said: "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.
"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.
"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."
'I was allowing the rape to be my companion'
After she was drugged in her ‘own home in the four weeks’, she shared how she 'didn't feel safe' to go to the police with what had happened.
She wrote: "I felt if anything went wrong, I would be dead, and he would have killed me. I could not risk being mishandled or it being all over the news during my danger."
However, she went on to share that she told two female officers, first when someone had attempted to blackmail her with the information, and the second instance occurred when three men tried to break into her home.
But she did not disclose whether they had investigated the original crime.
Sadly, her kidnapping put her at 'high risk' of suicide.
"I would not see someone, a physical soul, for sometimes weeks and weeks and weeks at a time, remaining alone," she wrote online. "I would take off my pyjamas and throw them in the fire and put on another set. My hair would get so knotted from not brushing it, as I grieved, I cut it all off.
"In hiding, in not talking, I was allowing the rape to become a companion."
She also revealed how she wanted to change her name and looks and run away to another country, but she since realised that she ‘can't erase’ herself.
She said: “I live in my being, so I have to be completely honest and have faith in the outcome."
She concluded: "I can now leave this decade behind. Where the past belongs. Hopefully no more 'what happened to Duffy questions', now you know … and I am free."
What is Duffy doing now?
According to the aforementioned TikTok video, she might be collaborating on some music.
The video was posted to Emotion HQ's account, which teased that a remix of ‘Mercy’ will be released soon.
The caption read: “Some of you asked if Duffy was really doing a UK Garage remix with us… #duffy #newmusic #ElectronicMusic #ukgarage #dancemusic #remix.”
So, we’ve got something exciting to look forward to.
If you have been affected by any of the issues in this article and wish to speak to someone in confidence, contact The Survivors Trust for free on 08088 010 818, available 10am-12.30pm, 1.30pm-3pm and 6pm-8pm Monday to Thursday, 10am-12.30pm and 1.30pm-3pm on Fridays, 10am-12.30pm on Saturdays and 6pm-8pm on Sundays.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, please don’t suffer alone. Call Samaritans for free on their anonymous 24-hour phone line on 116 123.
Topics: Celebrity, Crime, Music, TikTok, UK News, Mental Health
Britt Jones