Mercy" singer Duffy emerged from a long quiet period Tuesday (Feb. 25) with a harrowing story that she said explains why she's disappeared for several years.
"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 wrote alongside a black-and-white picture, which is the only image on her Instagram account right now.
She said many fans had wondered what "happened to me, where did I disappear to and why." The singer -- whose second album, Endlessly, was released in 2010, said she had been contacted by a journalist whom she confided in over last summer. "He was kind and it felt so amazing to finally speak," she said before revealing an alleged horrifying assault that she suffered.
"He was kind and it felt so amazing to finally speak," she explained of the unnamed writer. "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."
Duffy did not specify when the alleged assault took place, and at press time, a spokesperson for the singer could not be reached for additional comment on the post. "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?" she said of the decade-plus break since her last album.
"And slowly it unbroke. 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. 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." She additionally asked fans to respect her privacy and that of her family at this time.
Duffy's 2008 hit single “Mercy” reached No. 27 on the Billboard Hot 100, soared to No. 4 on the Adult Alternative Songs airplay chart, and sold 2 million downloads in the U.S., according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. Its parent album, Rockferry, debuted and peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and has sold 964,000 copies. Duffy won the 2008 Grammy Award for best pop vocal album for Rockferry, and earned two additional nominations that year: for best new artist and best female pop vocal performance (“Mercy”).
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