GRAMMY award-winning singer Duffy has revealed she was drugged and raped while being held captive by an attacker.
The 35-year-old took to Instagram to explain her nine-year hiatus from music, insisting that she "did not want to show the world the sadness in my eyes".
The Welsh star, who rose to international prominence with her 2008 single Mercy, told her 33,000 followers: "The truth is, and please trust me I am OK and safe now."
"I was raped, drugged and held captive for some days," she added.
"I asked myself, how can I sing from the heart if it is broken?" Before adding that "and slowly it unbroke."
After opening up in the emotional post, Duffy said she would be releasing a spoken interview "in the following weeks", and told fans "if you have any questions I would like to answer them."
She then urged the public to be respectful of her and her family and "to make this a positive experience."
Duffy - whose real name is Aimee Anne Duffy - went to number one in 12 countries with Mercy, which was the UK's third-best-selling single of 2008 with sales of more than 500,000 copies.
You can read her post in full below:
"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."
