Duffy

[happyforest]

Private planes and it's a different world. I've flown on private jets for work and there's zero security and mostly no rules. The "airport" area where we got on and off the planes wasn't anywhere near the normal area of the airport (think blocks away), and it didn't have any security to go through to get to the tarmac.

You can get anything you want on board, the sky is quite literally the limit. As long as you pay the bill for the charter, anything goes. Luggage wasn't screened, and our ID's weren't checked. My boss didn't want flight attendants aboard to see or hear anything discussed, so I was the token "attendant" serving what was pre-ordered to the direct reports that were also present. We flew when my boss wanted to, weather conditions not taken into account. The pilots just did as he said. Looking back, it was batshit crazy, since some of the decisions to randomly stop in certain cities meant super choppy landings.

I've also arrived at multiple countries aboard yachts, and Customs has been laughable. One person from the boat would drive to a Custom's office miles away and sign an affidavit affirming who was on board. No one checked the head count, there was no follow-up, and there were no patrols to see if we'd bothered to check in. The wealthy aren't held to the same rules that the masses are, IME. And this was after 9/11, so you'd think officials would be far more scrupulous.

If Duffy was unconscious she could have been flown and then put on a boat.

I believe her. Having seen the effects of sexual abuse up close in someone very close to me, I'd bet she is only sharing as much as she can right now. I hope she can find true happiness one day, and that the trauma loses its teeth for her over time.

My heart goes out to everyone that has ever been victimized. It's lonely and deeply impactful not only for the victim, but everyone that loves them. The ripple effect of damage it unleashes in the person's life and their loved one's lives should make it as serious a crime as murder, IMO.

 

[Uhohno]

Without outing myself too much. I'm a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, I was what some may called a survivor of VIP childhood sexual abuse, the man who groomed me and first started abusing me was famous, had his own kids TV program, and then I was shared with his friends, senior officials and other wealthy people. It was all covered up by local authority and the police. Knowing what I know and what I went through and saw others go through its totally possible and happens more than anyone realises, it's just never talked about because the people who do it have money, power and protection.

I strongly believe she isn't lying. The world is a very dark place. Yes it probably seems impossible but it's not, if you have the money and right connections it's possible. The person/people who did this to her would have been incredibly wealthy and influential.

 

[Hellzapoppin]

Read it again from the point of view of it being a live-in partner who did it. Friends or family would not necessarily notice anything amiss if she's trapped with him and he's taken her phone etc. Coercion and intimidation are ways to get someone on a plane, and a partner would have access to her passport.

 

[Instamoron]

Not sure if anyone remembers Duffy, had a couple of big hits about 10-11 years ago and then disappeared... well, she’s posted today explaining why:

Absolutely horrific experience for anybody, and definitely not what I was expecting to read when I first started reading what she had to say!

Any one remember her songs?

 

[Lolly505]

I don't understand why people would assume that, out of all the stories you could make up to explain away an absence, she'd choose this if it wasn't the truth
Obviously it's a very traumatic experience but at least from the sounds of it, she's starting to heal. The courage it takes to go public about something like this shouldn't be underestimated or dismissed.
Hopefully she finds the peace she was hoping for.

 

[Love_hate_small_town]

I think things become ‘murky’ when the victim doesn’t fit the perfect victim mould.

The only time women get the full support, trust and sympathy of the public is when they are basically snatched / raped/ killed by a stranger in the dead of night. If they are known to the perpetrator, it immediately becomes their fault (the daily mail will find a way). If they have substance abuse problems which many people suffer from to some degree, especially in the public eye then they become an unreliable narrator who the public often turn on.

Duffy may well be trying to address it once and for all so that she can return to music in her own terms but it seems like she will have thought for long and hard about it, knowing that she will be exposing herself to the public jury, and the public consciously or not term to like any excuse to hate a woman.

 

[Bubblegirl]

Easy as anything to drive to France maybe say someone was asleep? And who's to say she didn't know them and they knew where her passport was. Nothing there that seems unbelievable to me.
It's odd to me how people need to pick it apart? Is it the fear that things like that happen?! Because they do. Maybe we should start from a place of believing survivors before we rip them to shreds.

 

[PineappleQueen19]

There is obviously information she is holding back but that doesn’t make what she has shared to be implausible or unbelievable.

 

[Bitofthebubbly]

I believe her and I hope she is able to heal from her ordeal. Some people have this set image in their head of how a situation is ‘meant’ to play out so if someone’s story doesn’t fit that narrative perfectly they assume it can’t possibly be true. As someone else said why, out of all the reasons to explain an absence would you lie about something so horrific? It’s hardly good publicity since people generally don’t believe abuse victims anyway. There’s literally no reason for her to lie imo.

 

[BallroomBear]

The problem with her story is that if you ask basic, intelligent questions, the whole story becomes impossible to believe.

 

[BettyCrocker]

The problem with her story is that if you ask basic, intelligent questions, the whole story becomes impossible to believe.

Unfortunately I do have to agree.

How was the perpetrator able to get hold of her passport? How did they get her through airport check in & security if she was in such a drug induced state? Was no one curious where she disappeared to for a month within her family/friends? She obviously knows the man in question and he was at her birthday party - so the other guests know who he is?


I dunno.....

 

[Upintheair83]

Could have been a private jet- maybe an Arab guy, which supports the fact she mentioned ‘walking behind him’ . Saudi maybe? Rape is a funny subject there? Who knows, so very traumatic though poor love

 

[Greencatfysh]

Read it again from the point of view of it being a live-in partner who did it. Friends or family would not necessarily notice anything amiss if she's trapped with him and he's taken her phone etc. Coercion and intimidation are ways to get someone on a plane, and a partner would have access to her passport.

This! It wasn’t some dramatic kidnapping story committed by a stranger. It’s coercion by a supposed loving partner.

 

[Love_hate_small_town]

This happened in 2011 right? And she’s recently broken up with that rugby player?

I remember something feeling so off at the time. To be clear, I absolutely believe her but this story is tangled.
That wales online article referenced a few pages back is absolutely a hit piece. Someone paid or pushed to get that printed and that someone was on the team of whoever did those things to her. The piece presents itself as a ‘whatever happened to Duffy?’ But the objectives of the piece are to make Duffy look like an emotionally unstable and untrustworthy woman who has substance abuse issues and was not coping with fame. I actually had chills reading it and wouldn’t be surprised if it came out around the time of the sexual assaults and kidnapping.

 

[BettyCrocker]

There is obviously information she is holding back but that doesn’t make what she has shared to be implausible or unbelievable.

Anyone reading her latest statement is surely going to be curious as to the details, given the magnitude of her allegations.

I just find it strange that she’s omitted crucial parts of the story. Taken on 2 flights, therefore gone through 4 airports and she couldn’t ask anyone for help - doesn’t that seem strange??

I have no idea if she’s telling the truth or not. None of us do. But by only sharing half the story, she’s opened it up to cross examination and people are going to query crucial parts of it

 

[BallroomBear]

Unfortunately I do have to agree.

How was the perpetrator able to get hold of her passport? How did they get her through airport check in & security if she was in such a drug induced state? Was no one curious where she disappeared to for a month within her family/friends? She obviously knows the man in question and he was at her birthday party - so the other guests know who he is?


I dunno.....

Exactly. No passport, and the days of you being able to carry an unconscious person on to an airliner have long gone. A few decades ago, if you were too scared to fly, you could knock yourself out with sleeping pills in the departure lounge and get carried on to the plane. Not since 9/11, you can't.

If she was drugged unconscious in a public restaurant, removed from the premises, taken to an airport, put on a plane, and flown abroad as she claims, then there would be a huge trail of breadcrumbs. CCTV for starters. Other people in the restaurant would've seen what was going on, although I admit it's not uncommon for celebrity women to be carried unconscious out of venues. It would've had to be a private airport and a private plane, and that takes far too much money and clout for it not to have been someone very high up. This wasn't some random stalker. Plane would've needed a flight plan which would've had to be logged with the authorities. Airport staff would've seen her and her attacker. Foreign airports would've have a record of the plane landing. Too many records that would've had to disappear.

How and why was she allowed to escape? How did she get back to the UK with no passport. How did all this stay out of the media for the last 10 years?

It's such a ridiculous shaggy dog story, it's laughable. She's clearly mentally sick and needs help.

 

[blondelle21]

Anyone reading her latest statement is surely going to be curious as to the details, given the magnitude of her allegations.

I just find it strange that she’s omitted crucial parts of the story. Taken on 2 flights, therefore gone through 4 airports and she couldn’t ask anyone for help - doesn’t that seem strange??

I have no idea if she’s telling the truth or not. None of us do. But by only sharing half the story, she’s opened it up to cross examination and people are going to query crucial parts of it

It's not at all strange that she wouldn't have been able to ask for help in the airports. For example, victims of trafficking are taken on flights and through multiple airports all the time, and aren't able to signal to anybody that they need help.

I do agree that she's missing out a lot of crucial details and it's totally normal to ask questions about how this was able to happen, because if it's true (and I honestly have no idea) it really does sound completely awful.

 

[Bubblegirl]

Read it again from the point of view of it being a live-in partner who did it. Friends or family would not necessarily notice anything amiss if she's trapped with him and he's taken her phone etc. Coercion and intimidation are ways to get someone on a plane, and a partner would have access to her passport.

This. Much more likely than some Taken scenario.

 

[Instamoron]

I just listened to Mercy for the first time in years - now knowing what we know, it’s almost like she’s singing about it there. Obviously she wasn’t, but the chorus says about releasing her and she’s begging for mercy.. bless her. I don’t know if I’ll ever hear that song the same way now!

 

[PineappleQueen19]

Duffy is releasing a documentary about her life, including her ordeal

Duffy to Speak About Sexual Assault, Kidnapping and Absence From Music for First Time in Disney+ Documentary

Duffy, who had a massive hit with "Mercy" in 2008 and then retreated from the limelight, is set to tell her story in a new Disney+ documentary.

variety.com