Singer Duffy has spoken out on her harrowing four-week rape ordeal, which saw her drugged, forcibly taken to another country and raped.
The 'Warwick Avenue' hitmaker, 35, documented the experience in a long, powerful blog post, just one month after divulging what she had been through on Instagram, to "help others who have suffered the same",
She wrote: "Rape is like living murder, you are alive, but dead. All I can say is it took an extremely long time, sometimes feeling never ending, to reclaim the shattered pieces of me."
Advert
In her lengthy account Duffy - who won three Brit Awards and had a 2008 best selling album - revealed: "It was my birthday, I was drugged at a restaurant, I was drugged then for four weeks and travelled to a foreign country.
Advert
"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.
"I was stuck with him for another day, he didn't look at me, I was to walk behind him, I was somewhat conscious and withdrawn."
The 'Mercy' singer then painfully went on to recall how she could have been "disposed of" by him.
Advert
Revealing she doesn't know how she had "the strength to endure those days," she claimed the rapist then flew her back, and often "made veiled confessions of wanting to kill me".
Duffy said that she eventually managed to flee the scene, but added that she "cannot remember getting home".
Looking back, she added: "I am no longer ashamed that something deeply hurt me, anymore. I believe that if you speak from the heart within you, the heart within others will answer.
Advert
"As dark as my story is, I do speak from my heart, for my life, and for the life of others, whom have suffered the same."
She revealed that she was scared to go to the police, but eventually told a female officer her story after someone threatened to "out her story".
In 2010, two years after her number one album, Duffy completely retreated from the music scene and the public eye as a result of her trauma.
She added that she was "at high risk of suicide" and spent the next ten years mostly alone.
However, fortunately, she found a psychologist who helped her to process everything, alongside a separate incident where she was raped also.
Advert
Revealing that she feels an obligation to release a new body of work, Duffy warned fans that she won't "ever be the person people once knew".
"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," she wrote.
To read the singer's full blog post click here.
What an incredible, brave woman.
If you have been affected by the issues or topics raised in the article and wish to speak to somebody, please contact the Rape Crisis England and Wales helpline on 0808 802 9999 between 12pm-2.30pm and 7pm-9.30pm every day.
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: Celebrity News, Celebrity News, Celebrity News