Singer Duffy Says She Was Raped, Drugged and Held Captive for Days

Singer Duffy
Yui Mok/PA Wire

British singer Duffy spoke out for the first time in years on her Instagram on Tuesday.

British singer Duffy spoke out for the first time in years on her Instagram on Tuesday, and said her disappearance from the spotlight happened after she was raped, drugged and held captive for days.

Duffy, 35, is best known for her big 2008 hit, "Mercy," and after her 2010 album, Endlessly, she dropped out of the public eye. Her surprise post on Tuesday was a black-and-white picture of herself accompanied by a heartbreaking revelation. 

"You can only imagine the amount of times I thought about writing this The way I would write it, how I would feel thereafter," she writes. "Well, not entirely sure why now is the right time, and what it is that feels exciting and liberating for me to talk. I cannot explain it. 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 truth is, and please trust me I am ok and safe now, I was raped and drugged and held captive over some days. Of course I survived. The recovery took time. There’s no light way to say it."

Duffy says she has spent time recovering and explained why she took a break from her career.

"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," she writes. "You wonder why I did not choose to use my voice to express my pain? I did not want to show the world the sadness in my eyes. I asked myself, how can I sing from the heart if it is broken? And slowly it unbroke."

The singer says she will be speaking out in an interview soon. 

"If you have any questions I would like to answer them, in the spoken interview, if I can," she shares. "I have a sacred love and sincere appreciation for your kindness over the years. You have been friends. I want to thank you for that x Duffy."

Duffy -- whose full name is Aimee Anne Duffy -- released her debut album, Rockferry, in 2008 and it was the best-selling album in the United Kingdom that year. At the 2009 GRAMMY Awards, the Welsh singer won the award for Best Pop Vocal Album. But after Endlessly failed to receive the critical or commercial success of her debut album, she decided to take a break from the music business in 2011, according to Wales Online. In 2015, she did record three songs for the crime thriller Legend.

In December, she got fans excited on Facebook when she shared a picture of herself with the caption "2020," seemingly alluding to new music coming out.

RELATED CONTENT: