'I had to set myself free': Duffy shares details on rape & kidnap ordeal

More than a month after Welsh singer Duffy revealed that she'd been raped and kidnapped, the award-winning star has shared more details on the harrowing ordeal and her decision to speak up now.

Back in February, Duffy broke her silence on her decision to step out of the limelight, penning a painful post on Instagram on her ordeal and her struggle to cope as a result. 

This week, the songstress penned a lengthy post titled The 5th House on her website where she shared about her ordeal and her decision to finally break her silence.

"It was my birthday, I was drugged at a restaurant, I was drugged then for four weeks and travelled to a foreign country. I can't remember getting on the plane and came round in the back of a travelling vehicle. I was put into a hotel room and the perpetrator returned and raped me. I remember the pain and trying to stay conscious in the room after it happened. I was stuck with him for another day, he didn't look at me, I was to walk behind him, I was somewhat conscious and withdrawn.

"I could have been disposed of by him. I contemplated running away to the neighbouring city or town, as he slept, but had no cash and I was afraid he would call the police on me, for running away, and maybe they would track me down as a missing person. I do not know how I had the strength to endure those days, I did feel the presence of something that helped me stay alive.

"I flew back with him, I stayed calm and as normal as someone could in a situation like that, and when I got home, I sat, dazed, like a zombie. I knew my life was in immediate danger, he made veiled confessions of wanting to kill me. With what little strength I had, my instinct was to then run, to run and find somewhere to live that he could not find.

"The perpetrator drugged me in my own home in the four weeks, I do not know if he raped me there during that time, I only remember coming round in the car in the foreign country and the escape that would happen by me fleeing in the days following that. I do not know why I was not drugged overseas; it leads me to think I was given a class A drug and he could not travel with it."

She then shared details of the aftermath, revealing that she didn't "feel safe" reporting the matter to the police as she could not "risk being mishandled or it being all over the news during my danger".

Duffy revealed that she finally decided to share because she is "no longer ashamed that something deeply hurt me, any more" and had to set herself free.

"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.

"I have no shame in telling you either I had spent almost 10 years completely alone and it still burns my heart to write it. I owe it to myself to say it, I feel obliged to explain how challenging recovering truly was and to finally disclose it. I hope it comforts you to feel less ashamed if you feel alone."