Duffy has revealed a personal ordeal through an Instagram post, explaining a long absence away from the music scene. In the post, Duffy detailed how she’d been attacked and abducted, an experience that lasted “some days”.

It appears that last summer, Duffy opened up about the trauma to a journalist who’d tracked her down. Best known for her international hits ‘Mercy’ and ‘Warwick Avenue’ over ten years, the vocalist subsequently revealed in the post that she had been “raped and drugged and held captive over some days”.

View this post on Instagram

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. 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. 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. 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 x Duffy 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.

A post shared by @ duffy on Feb 25, 2020 at 10:12am PST

As a result of this horrific experience, her recovery “took time”. Duffy further said: “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.”

She added: “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.”

Duffy opened up about her hopes for a “spoken interview” within the next few weeks, in a bid to answer questions from her fan community.

“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.”

Duffy signed off the post asking for support from her fans to “make this a positive experience.”

In 2008, Duffy’s debut album, ‘Rockferry’, became the biggest selling album of the year in the UK. It further won Best British Album at the 2009 Brit Awards, as well as a Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 51st Grammy Awards. She beat nominees Sheryl Crow, Eagles, Leona Lewis and James Taylor to the award.