While the 35-year-old does not specify when the attack happened, she says she decided to speak publicly about her ordeal after being contacted by a journalist: “He was kind and it felt so amazing to finally speak … In the following weeks I will be posting a spoken interview. If you have any questions I would like to answer them, in the spoken interview, if I can.”
Duffy, who retreated from the spotlight after her 2008 smash hit album ‘Rockferry,’ added: “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.”
She concluded by asking for support and privacy for herself and her family.
The singer’s breakthrough album sold over 1.6 million copies and was produced by Bernard Butler, who is best known as the lead guitarist from the band Suede.
After the album was released Duffy had revealed that Butler hadn't initially been paid for his work on the album.
Speaking in September 2008 she said: 'At times we wondered if it would ever be released. I'm just this girl from Wales – it could have done nothing and I could have faded into obscurity.
'Nobody ever gave Bernard any money to work with me. It was all done on a shoestring.'
She released a less successful follow-up, Endlessly, in 2010. She has only released one song since then, Whole Lot of Love
In 2013, she told Esquire magazine: “I took a step back. I thought: I’m going to slow all this right down … It all got so complex, such responsibility. I was serenading people to sleep, not running Nasa. Suddenly I was a product, an enterprise, a businesswoman. But mostly I wanted to be human.”
Need help? Call Lifeline on 131 114, visit www.lifeline.org.au/get-help/get-help-home, or call beyondblue on 1300 224 636.
If you or someone you know is affected by sexual assault or family violence, call the 1800RESPECT hotline or visit www.1800respect.org.au/. You can also call the Domestic Violence Hotline on 1800 656 463.
If you or someone have something to report, contact Crime Stoppers, call 1800 333 00.
