HARD FOR THE HEART
Sick murder plot, kidnap hell & horror fire that gutted £12m pad… inside Duffy’s traumatic life as singer breaks silence
The singer went 'off the rails' during her teens and struggled to enjoy her success
DUFFY was considered one of Britain’s most promising stars in the late Noughties - but within a matter of years, she had vanished from the limelight for good.
At the height of her fame, the Welsh vocalist had scooped a Grammy, three Brits and an Ivor Novello Award before announcing her hiatus back in 2011.
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The Mercy singer, who carved out a reported £4million fortune from her career, kept silent for years about the reason for her departure until 2020.
On Instagram, she wrote: “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.”
Duffy would later reveal she had been drugged at a restaurant on her birthday before being taken to another country, where she suffered a terrifying four-week ordeal.
“Rape is like living murder. You are alive but dead,” Duffy explained. "All I can say is it took an extremely long time, sometimes feeling never-ending, to reclaim the shattered pieces of me."
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Messages of support flooded in for the singer, who has continued to keep a low profile until yesterday, when she shared an inspirational video online.
The animated clip featured quotes from a 2017 self-help book including “happiness was never about your job” and “happiness is always about being kinder to yourself”.
Now, as the singer breaks her silence online, we look back at the traumatic difficulties she has overcome.
Heartbreaking split
The singer was born Aimee Ann Duffy and grew up in the tiny coastal village of Neyfn, in North Wales, which has less than 1,300 residents.
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She was raised by mum Joyce, who worked in a factory, and dad Allan Evans, a storeman, but it was far from a happy childhood due to the couple’s marital difficulties.
Duffy told the Mail On Sunday: “They tried to separate when I was six but I cried so much that they stayed together.
Welsh singer Duffy stars in Diet Coke commercial
"That was very cruel of me, really, but my mum is a lovely woman and she didn't want to hurt us.
"They finally separated when I was nine. As kids, we weren't really aware of the emotional side of it but I guess there was quite an upheaval.”
While Duffy dismissed its effect on her, insisting she was “not someone who takes scared with me”, the news was “a big thing in the town” and gossip spread.
She added: “Everybody was talking about it - but I think my mum did the right thing in leaving. I remember my dad being very upset."
Assassination plot
By 1996, Duffy’s mum Joyce had married new partner Philip Smith and the family moved to live with him and his four children.
A year later, they returned home one evening to be told by police that Philip's ex-wife Dawn has attempted to hire hitman to kill him.
It was a horrendous thing to do. Me, my two sisters and my mum had stuck together through thick and thin, and when I left it was like I was saying, “F*** you.
Duffy
Philip later told the Mirror: “Dawn had agreed to pay about £3,000 to a local man, Robert Rees, to shoot me dead.”
Dawn, who died in 2002, told Robert to “just blow [Philip's] head off” but instead he went to the police.
Duffy, along with the rest of the family, had to be moved into a safe house until police arrested Dawn and her new husband Marc Watson.
In 1998, she was convicted of soliciting murder and sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison.
Recalling that traumatic time, the singer previously told us: “I was so terrified. I felt so ill.”
'Dog-eat-dog' family
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Settling into life with her mum and stepdad had never been easy for Duffy.
The future singer, alongside her two sisters, were made to leave their dad and move 200 miles away to Pembrokeshire to live with Philip.
Before departing her father’s house, she scrawled “I love you Dad” on the wall as she struggled to imagine not being with him.
At her new school, which was English-speaking, Duffy, her twin sister Kate and older sister Kelly found it hard to fit in and were thought of as “weird” by classmates due to speaking Welsh.
She said: “We quickly learned that we weren’t going to survive if we did that.”
Adapting to having four step-siblings wasn't easy either. Duffy described it as a “dog-eat-dog” environment.
She recalled: “If you had a chocolate bar you had bought with some money you had found then there was outrage in the house, 'How come you’ve got one?' But little things were what we got by on. We just didn’t have anything.”
At 15, Duffy ran away from home and went back to live with her dad in Nefyn.
She reflected: "It was a horrendous thing to do. Me, my two sisters and my mum had stuck together through thick and thin, and when I left it was like I was saying, “F*** you.
“But I just had to do something because it was killing me living there.”
Troubled teens
Duffy’s teen years were troubled and she went off the rails.
She told the Mail: “From 15 to 18, I did everything - body-piercing to going on 48-hour binge beach parties, to stealing someone’s boat at night and rowing it from one place to another when we were drunk, to jumping on a milk float for a lift home.”
I wanted the record to do everything it needed to do, but I didn’t really want to be associated with it because I wasn’t proud of myself. I’ve never been proud of myself.
Duffy
Her behaviour concerned family members so much that her aunt warned she would become a single mum on benefits if she didn't turn her life around.
But Duffy was focused and became determined to be a singer-songwriter.
After completing her A-levels, she spent a short time at Chester University before dropping out.
While working as a waitress and in clothing shops, she penned some of the songs that would eventually make her a star.
'Falling apart'
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In 2007, Duffy signed a record deal. It came four years after appearing on Wawffactor, the Welsh equivalent of The X Factor.
Her debut album Rockferry was an instant success - it became the fourth best-selling album of 2008 and sold nine million copies.
But, rather than taking joy from her achievement, the singer felt uncomfortable and self-conscious.
She said: “I feel quite embarrassed and shy about it all and quite scared…
“I wanted the record to do everything it needed to do, but I didn’t really want to be associated with it because I wasn’t proud of myself.
“I’ve never been proud of myself. There is so much more to do.”
The following year she beat stars including Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen at the 2009 Brit Awards - where she scooped three out of four gongs - but still her feeling of dissatisfaction continued.
I thought he treasured me. I asked him to tell me his hidden secrets and it all came out, so I couldn't be with him.
Duffy
That same year, she was mocked for featuring in a Diet Coke advert that saw her singing while cycling through a supermarket.
Duffy nearly quit fame because of the pressure and stress, explaining that she didn’t want to be “adored or admired, to make money or be successful”.
“I did think, ‘Maybe I won’t do this at all,’" she said. “It was a wild, exhilarating experience and at times it felt as though I was falling apart at the seams.
“Life had got so complicated. I found it difficult to operate in the music industry.”
Cheating ex
Duffy’s romantic life hadn’t been much easier either.
In 2006, her five-year relationship with music promoter Mark Durston ended after he admitted to having cheated on her.
She explained: “I thought he treasured me. I asked him to tell me his hidden secrets and it all came out, so I couldn't be with him."
She later added: “He hurt me but he didn’t destroy me.
“But I don't resent anyone - I can't blame him for behaving the way he did. I was hurt but it didn't surprise me.
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"When I started I had absolutely no one to protect me or two pennies to rub together. I thought he was a good guy and he provided a little stability and then it was another one bites the dust.”
By 2009, Duffy was dating Welsh international rugby player Mike Phillips but their romance ended after two years.
At the time, a source claimed their “arguments were getting more frequent” and described the break-up as “a very unfortunate and sad situation”.
They added: “The arguments were increasing as the uncertainty surrounding Mike’s career increased.
I thought the public disclosure of my story would utterly destroy my life, emotionally, while hiding my story was destroying my life so much more. I believe that not singing is killing me
Duffy
“They tried to reconcile things on several occasions and were both keen to make it work but it is now over once and for all.
“It’s all very amicable. It is just unfortunate the way things didn’t work out.”
Since then, Duffy appears to have kept her relationships out of the private eye.
Horror blaze
Bad luck appeared to follow Duffy. In 2010, her album flopped and then after dropping her manager Angela Becker, she was sued and had to settle out of court.
In 2012, further chaos followed when Duffy’s £12million penthouse home in Kensington, West London, caught fire.
She was packing her belongings ready to move out the following day when a pal spotted smoke pouring thought one of the home's vents.
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Unable to trace the source of the fire, they fled outside where they were forced to watch the lavish property burn.
It took more than 60 firefighters six hours to put out the blaze at her home - which boasted an indoor swimming pool, games room and a cinema.
Recalling the incident, one neighbour told the Mail: “I saw Duffy running outside. She was running about all over the place. When the police arrived they calmed her.”
I would take off my pyjamas and throw them in the fire and put on another set. My hair would get so knotted from not brushing it, as I grieved, I cut it all off
Duffy
Duffy was facing problems with her career too. In 2011, she cancelled a gig in Monaco and a year later, she pulled out of one in Dubai.
It’s believed that somewhere around this time, she suffered the harrowing attack that led her to retreat from the spotlight.
Duffy took on smaller projects including playing a singer in the 2015 film Legend, which was about the Kray twins.
She was also due to appear in a film titled Secret Love, which was never made, and was said to be working on a new album with Albert Hammond but the music was never released.
In 2014, her former mentor Bernard Butler said: “She went off the rails and it all went pear-shaped for her.”
'Life in danger'
It appears few knew about Duffy’s ordeal - with the singer admitting she didn’t tell many people because she “knew my life was in danger”.
On her 2020 blog, the singer said: “It didn't feel safe to go to the police. I felt if anything went wrong, I would be dead, and he would have killed me. I could not risk being mishandled or it being all over the news during my danger."
Duffy, who did not report the incident to police, says she battled suicidal thoughts and considered changing her name to flee to another country.
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"I would not see someone, a physical soul, for sometimes weeks and weeks and weeks at a time, remaining alone," she added.
“I would take off my pyjamas and throw them in the fire and put on another set. My hair would get so knotted from not brushing it, as I grieved, I cut it all off.”
Duffy revealed it was the conviction of Harvey Weinstein - who was found guilty of two sexual abuse charges in 2020 - that encouraged her to speak out.
She added: "I thought the public disclosure of my story would utterly destroy my life, emotionally, while hiding my story was destroying my life so much more. I believe that not singing is killing me.
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"So, I just have to be strong and disclose it and face all my fears head-on. I've come to realise I can't erase myself, I live in my being, so I have to be completely honest and have faith in the outcome.
"I can now leave this decade behind. Where the past belongs. Hopefully no more 'what happened to Duffy questions', now you know … and I am free."