It’s no longer a distant dream to see Duffy. The Grammy-winning singer made her first public appearance in 10 years on TikTok March 25 to promote an e.motion remix of her hit song “Mercy.” The now 40-year-old can be seen lip-syncing along to her 2008 breakthrough track with the lyrics, “You got me begging you for mercy,” before winking at the camera. E.motion wrote in the caption, “Some of you asked if Duffy was really doing a UK Garage remix with us…” The appearance comes five years after she first shared details of a past scary experience that caused her to retreat from the spotlight. In February 2020, Duffy (real name Aimée Anne Duffy) detailed in a since-deleted Instagram post—as well as a subsequent written essay—a harrowing ordeal in which she said she’d been drugged, raped and kidnapped in a foreign country, where she was held hostage over a number of days. She has never named her attacker. The alleged ordeal caused her to step away from public life for 10 years before she finally felt ready to share her experience. She wrote at the time, “Many of you wonder what happened to me, where did I disappear to and why? The truth is, and please trust me I am ok and safe now, I was raped and drugged and held captive over some days.” The “Rockferry” artist also further explained why she’d pressed pause on releasing music.
“You wonder why I did not choose to use my voice to express my pain?” Duffy said. “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.”
“Rape stripped me of my human rights, to experience a life with autonomy from fear,” she wrote in an essay, per People. “It has already stolen one-third of my life. Deep down I do know it would have been a shame and done such an immense disservice to my existence to just delete myself and forget what I had experienced in music publicly.” She’s rarely shared updates on her life since then; however, last year, the singer returned to social media to share her first post in more than three years, featuring an inspirational video about the origin of happiness.
“One day you’re going to see it, that happiness was always about the discovery,” a voiceover said in the clip. “The hope the listening to your heart and following it wherever it chose to go. Happiness was always about being kinder to yourself.” The video went on, “One day you will understand that happiness was always about learning how to live with yourself, that your happiness was never in the hands of others. One day you will realize that true happiness comes from within, and no external factors can define it. It was always about you.” For free, confidential help, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or visit rainn.org.
