"Rockferry" Artist Duffy Opens Up on Harrowing Kidnapping Experience

Welsh singer-songwriter Duffy shared details of her four-week experience in captivity in a blog post on her website yesterday, April 5.

In February 25th, 2020, the "Mercy" singer said in a since-deleted Instagram post that she stepped away from the spotlight back in 2010 because she was "raped and drugged and held hostage after some days." The rising artist suddenly disappeared shortly after the release of her 2010 album "Endlessly"

In the lengthy account posted on her website linked in her Instagram account , Duffy noted that it troubles her to share her sad story in the middle of the quarantine due to the coronavirus outbreak. She hopes that her story could "serve as a momentary distraction or maybe even some comfort that one can come out of darkness."

Before delving into details, she confessed that she has been warned not to talk about her experience. Some people insinuated that her career in music is finished and that she would be publicly scorned.

"Rape stripped me of my human rights, to experience a life with autonomy from fear."

The now 35-year-old artist then shared her account in "the next twenty lines" of her 3,600-word post. She explained that it was her birthday when she was drugged at a restaurant; this drugging continued for four weeks, and she was taken to another country.

Over the following days, she contemplated running away but did not proceed out of fear that her aggressor would call the police on her as a "missing person." She would later tell two female police officers on separate accounts, saying that "it is on record."

After the experience, Duffy added that she became a recluse. She did not see anyone for weeks at a time, throwing her pyjamas into the fire and cutting her hair off. Duffy explained that she became a "high risk of suicide" and that she became estranged even from her family and friends. In her blog, she expressed gratitude to her psychologist, describing her "beautiful blue eyes" as well as her office's "pink sofa" and "huge library."

"Rape is like living murder, you are alive, but dead," the Welsh-born artist wrote. She also added that it took an "extremely long time" to reclaim her shattered pieces.

As she recovers from the experiences, she shared her realization that the "very thing that hurt me, will become the very thing that heals me." She also said that humanity would heal her deeply inhumane experience.

Born Aimee Anne Duffy, she started receiving recognition by playing in a local jazz and blues club before joining Wawffactor, a Welsh TV talent show where she finished second place. She would then sign a contract under UK's A&M Records in 2007 and release her debut album "Rockferry" a year later. Her debut studio album performed well critically and commercially, earning her Grammy and Brit awards.

Her 2010 sophomore album, "Endlessly", was her last work before her abduction and followed the soul sound and style of her breakthrough debut album.

"If you are reading this and are sad, my encouragement to you is that ... to know pain, you must first know how to love. Only the absence of love causes pain. So, go find it," Duffy wrote.