It’s been more than 10 years since Duffy disappeared from the public eye, but the Welsh soul singer has now made a surprise return to social media.
Appearing in a TikTok video posted on March 26, the 40-year-old had fans in shock – having not seen her in public for over a decade and almost five years since she revealed the harrowing circumstances behind her retreat from the public eye.
In the late 2000s, Duffy’s first album, Rockferry, swept the charts, with lead single ‘Mercy’ becoming one of the bestselling songs of 2008. But following her last musical releases in 2015, there was nothing further from the singer – no music, no concerts, no public sightings or social media presence whatsoever.
It wasn’t until 2020 that she resurfaced online, revealing the distressing circumstances behind her disappearance. In a post on Instagram, Duffy opened up about what she had endured years previously.
“Many of you wonder what happened to me, where did I disappear to and why,” she shared in the post. “The truth is, and please trust me I am OK and safe now, I was raped and drugged and held captive over some days.”
Elaborating in an open letter, titled ‘The 5th House’, on her Instagram account and website, the singer detailed her ordeal.
“It was my birthday, I was drugged at a restaurant, I was drugged then for four weeks and travelled to a foreign country,” she shared. “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.”
After returning to her own home with her captor, Duffy revealed she “didn’t feel safe to go to the police”. She elaborated, “I knew my life was in immediate danger, he made veiled confessions of wanting to kill me … I felt if anything went wrong, I would be dead.”
Instead, “months later”, the singer opened up to a psychologist. “Without her I may not have made it through. I was high risk of suicide in the aftermath,” Duffy confessed.
Though she did end up reporting her ordeal to police, she explained “it took so long for me to speak” publicly because she had been in hiding from her kidnapper.
“I moved five times in the immediate three years after, never feeling safe from the rapist, I was on the run for so long,” she continued. “I found somewhere to live, the 5th house … This place I would spend solitary years to find the stability to recover, I had stopped running and relocating. I felt he could not find me in the 5th house, I felt safe. I feel safe now.”
Vowing to “return to quietness” after her confession, the singer went to ground again before resurfacing in a recent TikTok video. Posted by dance music producers Emotion, who were teasing a new remix of her hit ‘Mercy’, the video shows Duffy herself briefly lip-syncing to the song.
While fans were overjoyed to see the singer looking happy and healthy, the ordeal she so bravely opened up about five years ago still lingers in their minds
“I hope she knows the real ones truly miss her and wish her the best of everything. she’s been through a lot,” shared one fan. Another commented Duffy had “been through an awful experience”.
As she said in 2020, the past is in the past. “I can now leave this decade behind. Where the past belongs,” she concluded in her open letter. “Hopefully no more ‘what happened to Duffy’ questions, now you know … and I am free.”
If you or someone you know is impacted by sexual assault, domestic or family violence, call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732.
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