Singer Duffy says she won't talk anymore about being raped and held captive: 'It's harder than I thought'
Grammy-winning singer Duffy has revealed that she will not be giving a spoken interview about her horrific rape ordeal that she talked about in a February social media post. In a message that she sent to Radio 2 DJ Jo Whiley, and which she later shared on Instagram on Thursday, Duffy wrote: “You may have read the words I wrote a few weeks back, I do feel freer. Tried to follow up with a spoken interview, but it's harder than I thought, I will follow up in writing soon.”
She continued: “Universal Music, no one, knows I am doing this. They won't be mad, they are lovely people. So here's a song … here's 'Something Beautiful'. It's just something for you to play people on radio during these troubling times, if you like the song of course. If it lifts spirits.”
“I don't plan to release it, I just thought a little something might be nice for people if they are at home, on lockdown. Duffy x,” she ended her post, addressing the people forced into quarantine due to the coronavirus outbreak in the world.
Her post garnered her a lot of support and praise as one person commented: “We adore you and your bravery”, while another said, “Missing you so much. Hope to hear your lovely voice again soon. Take care Duffy x.”
The 35-year-old Welsh singer is popularly known for her hit single 'Mercy' from her 'Rockferry' album for which she received the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album in 2009. Duffy virtually disappeared from the public eye after releasing her second album 'Endlessly' in 2010 after announcing a hiatus.
Though, she briefly re-emerged with a cameo role in the 2015 film 'Legend' and two songs on the soundtrack, she only revealed the truth about her long absence from the scene in February through a social media post.
The star said she had been raped, drugged and held captive for days. She didn't reveal any other detail.
She made the disturbing revelation through the emotional post, which has since been deleted. At that time, she wrote: “You can only imagine the amount of times I thought about writing this. The way I would write it, how I would feel thereafter. 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.”
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 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. 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,” added the pop star, who hails from Nefyn in Gwynedd, Wales.
In her now-deleted post, Duffy also addressed some unspoken questions, like why did she not used her voice to express her pain earlier and more. She wrote: “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?”
In her February post, she promised to soon share an interview that will answer all the questions.
“You have been friends. I want to thank you for that. Please respect this is a gentle move for me to make, for myself, and I do not want any intrusion to my family. Please support me to make this a positive experience,” Duffy said, requesting that the privacy of her family be respected.
Though she is not ready yet to share her ordeal with the world, she did share a new track in her message to DJ Jo Whiley, who played it on his show.
Listen to it here.