Duffy reveals she was drugged, raped and held captive

The singer Duffy has revealed she was drugged and raped after being held captive by an attacker.

The Grammy award-winning star, whose full name is Aimee Anne Duffy, announced on Instagram: "I was raped and drugged and held captive over some days.

“You can only imagine the amount of times I thought about writing this. Well, not entirely sure why now is the right time, and what it is that feels exciting and liberating for me to talk.”

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

She continued: “Many of you wonder what happened to me, where did I disappear to and why. A journalist contacted me, he found a way to reach me and I told him everything this past summer. He was kind and it felt so amazing to finally speak.”

The 35-year-old singer, who had a UK number one single Mercy in 2008, also told her 85,000 followers: “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.”

The singer, from Nefyn in Gwynedd, Wales, said she had kept quiet because she had not wanted to show the world the “sadness in her eyes”.

Duffy enjoyed a UK number one album with her release Rockferry in 2008. The following year she won three Brit Awards (British Breakthrough, Best Female Solo and Best British Album) and a Grammy (Best Pop Vocal Album).

Sky News says that in 2010, Duffy “retreated from the limelight after struggling with the demands of fame”.

However, in an interview with Marie Claire in 2011, Duffy noted how her idols were victims of tragedy. “Where I want to be and where I think I’ll be [in 20 years] are very different things. The way history would have it is that I would end up in some form of tragic event.

“The people that I’ve loved – Dusty, Marvin, Edith Piaf – they didn’t always have happy stories. That’s the way history would have it… I take every day as it comes. You’re at the mercy of life.”

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––For a round-up of the most important stories from around the world - and a concise, refreshing and balanced take on the week’s news agenda - try The Week magazine. Start your trial subscription today –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––