Duffy Shares Harrowing Story That Caused Her Absence From Public Life
(Ian Gavan/Getty Images)
Welsh singer Duffy (born Aimee Anne Duffy) made waves years ago with her hit song “Mercy,” and the album Rockferry was a big part of my high school and college listening experience. She last released an album in 2010, and then seemed to vanish without explanation. Yesterday, Duffy went to Instagram to explain that the reason for her absence was dealing with the aftermath of a deeply traumatic experience.
**Content Warning: Rape, abuse, and kidnapping.**
Duffy explained that she was raped, drugged, and held captive over a period of “some days.” Eventually, she escaped and survived, but the reason for all this time away was for her to heal from that experience.
“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,” she explains. “I asked myself, how can I sing from the heart if it is broken? And slowly it unbroke.”
In the coming weeks, there will be a spoken interview that will answer any question that people may have. I think that’s a powerful thing to do, even though we are not at all entitled to that kind of information from her about this deeply traumatic experience. I’m glad that she took the time to heal rather than feel the pressure to quickly rush back into singing. That kind of pain needs time to truly heal, and it sounds like, at least right now, Duffy is in a place where she can take full ownership of this story and use her voice the way she wants.
I am looking so forward to hearing what comes next from this fantastic talent.
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