Sick trolls have attacked Welsh singer-songwriter Duffy after she bravely revealed online how she was ‘raped and held captive’.
Duffy, 35, whose full name is Aimee Ann Duffy, released an emotional Instagram post yesterday to tell her fans why she stepped back from making music as she asked for support from fans.
Nearly all Instagram users reacted kindly to the star, but some trolls on Twitter cruelly asked why she had not reported the incident to police sooner and made twisted jokes about whether she had an album to promote.
Duffy is pictured above performing in August 2008. The singer yesterday bravely revealed she had been raped
One shocking post read: ‘So why not come forward sooner? Rape is wrong but don’t spout bull about how she’s been brave after however long it’s taken.
‘Been [sic] brave would be coming forward as soon as it happened. It’s not like she’s a child. She’s a grown woman. Should have gone to police immediately.’
Another account, ‘Colin n Lisa’ wrote: ‘Call us a little cynical, but is there an album to promote?’
Posting on her Instagram, Duffy 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.’ She added: ‘Well, not entirely sure why now is the right time… I cannot explain it.’
The singer, who is best-known for her 2008 hit Mercy, continued: ‘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 triple Brit Award winner 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.
‘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.’
She told how the attack was behind her disappearance from the public eye. The singer, from Bangor, announced in February 2011 that she was taking a long break from music.
Nearly all Instagram users reacted kindly to the star, but some trolls waded in on Twitter
Explaining the long hiatus, 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? And slowly it unbroke.’
Her last album, Endlessly, was released in 2010.
Duffy said she will next release an interview in the coming weeks, in which she will open up about the sexual assault she suffered and said she would like to answer some questions, ‘if I can’.
Thanking her fans for their support, she wrote: ‘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.’
The singer ended her post by asking for support as she steps back into public life, adding: ‘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.’
Despite some negative comments, the vast majority of social media users praised the singer for sharing her trauma with the world.
Some said they had ‘wondered for years’ as to where she had gone and commented that they were ‘shocked’ to read the reasons why.
The singer has previously performed at an array of shows and festivals across the world.
Duffy’s full post is seen above, she asked for her fans to respect that it was a ‘gentle move’ for her to make
She went to University in Chester where she was advised by a lecturer to become a singer. In August 2004 she was introduced to Rough Trade records.
It wasn’t long after this that she moved to London and in 2007 she got her big break.
Her breakthrough came in 2007 when she released the single Rockferry and she was contracted to A&M Records.
A year later she released the single Mercy, which catapulted her fame and career, her album Rockferry was also released that year – selling over 1.6 million copies.
It 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.’
From there she went on to perform at various festivals and also appeared on the Jools Holland show.
In 2011 it was confirmed that Duffy would be taking a break from her music career.
At the time it was believed that the break from music had been down to the sales of her second album ‘Endlessly’, which had under-performed her debut album.
Speaking in 2011, a source told the Daily Mirror: ‘She wants to have a quiet life and start over. She made a truckload of cash with the first album and through her endorsements with Diet Coke, so she’s comfortable and able to enjoy some downtime.
‘She’s not got management right now and has met a few people about taking over. But she’s just not interested.’
Since then she had taken various acting roles and had done a handful of live performances.
In 2012 it was reported that she had to flee a fire in her Kensington home, when she rescued her two cats and dogs, leaving all of her other personal belongings behind.
It is not known whether or not her Grammy Award and her Brits were stored in the property and it was reported at the time that over 60 firefighters attended the blaze.
She hinted in 2019 that she would be returning to music. She posted a picture of herself to her Facebook page with the caption ‘#2020’.
Prior to this she hadn’t posted anything on her Facebook page since 2017.
Aside from her musical career, Duffy also worked with various companies such as Nivea.
She also appeared in various eastern European commercials advertising Diet Coke.
One advert the singer starred in had previously received complaints as it showed her riding a bike without a helmet.
22 people contacted the Advertising Standards Authority in 2009.
Coca Cola chiefs insisted she had been wearing reflective gear and it was later given the all clear by the Advertising Standards Authority.