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Artist News
Rape Crisis charity praises Duffy for going public with her story
By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 7 April 2020
The charity Rape Crisis has praised Duffy for publishing details of her kidnap and assault, an ordeal that caused her to retreat from the public eye after the 2010 release of her second album. As well as detailing the experience of being held captive for more than a month, she spoke about her life in the following years, and said that she hoped speaking out would help others.
“We know through our frontline work at Rape Crisis why so few victims and survivors do speak about what has happened to them, or indeed report it to the police”, the charity’s spokesperson Katie Russell tells The Guardian. “It is because there is a lot of shame and stigma still attached to being raped or sexually assaulted and there are a lot of myths and stereotypes out there around the kind of people it happens to. In speaking out Duffy is reaching out to those people who maybe are suffering on their own”.
She goes on: “When people in the public eye speak about their experiences it really does help to encourage debate and widen understanding. That’s really important because there is still a lack of understanding and we don’t talk enough about rape and sexual violence. A big part of our work is supporting people to cope with those symptoms, to recover, to move forward positively with their lives … statements like Duffy’s can only serve to help that”.
The musician initially spoke about her attack in a post on Instagram in February, before publishing a lengthy article explaining what had happened to her on Sunday. In it, she wrote: “I am sharing this because we are living in a hurting world and I am no longer ashamed that something deeply hurt me anymore. I believe that if you speak from the heart within you, the heart within others will answer. As dark as my story is, I do speak from my heart, for my life, and for the life of others, whom have suffered the same”.
