by Kristen HarrisBuzzFeedBuzzFeed StaffAs a staff writer at BuzzFeed, I write about all things celeb and pop culture.

This post mentions bullying, anti-gay discrimination, sexual assault, and rape.

Plenty of actors take extended career breaks to focus on their families or explore something new. Sometimes, however, the reasons they decided to step away from the spotlight are much heavier.

Here are 21 heartbreaking reasons celebs stepped back from the spotlight:

After Duffy released her debut album, Rockferry, in 2008, she won a Grammy (and was nominated for two more) and won three BRIT Awards (and was nominated for a fourth). She released a second album in late 2010, but a few months later, her reps announced that she was "taking a break before starting work on her next album."

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At the time, sources speculated that her hiatus was due to her sophomore album's disappointing sales, but in 2020, Duffy shared her story. On Instagram, she said, "Many of you wonder what happened to me, where did I disappear to and why. The truth is, and please trust me I am ok and safe now, I was raped and drugged and held captive over some days. ... 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. ... 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."

Eamonn McCormack / WireImage / Via Getty

Several weeks later, in a blog post, she wrote, "I posted the words I wrote, a few weeks ago, because I was tired of hiding. Never feeling free or burden free. I had become enmeshed with my story like a dark secret. It made me alone and feel alone. What is also hard to explain is that, in hiding, in not talking, I was allowing the rape to become a companion. Me and it living in my being, I no longer wanted to feel that intimacy with it, a decade of that intimacy has been destructive. I had to set myself free. I have been hurt and it would have been dangerous to talk from that hurt place in the past, prior to feeling ready."

She described her intense fear about speaking about her trauma publicly and how she used to dream about changing her name and moving to another country where she could start over completely.

She said, "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. So, I just have to be strong and disclose it, and face all my fears head on. I've come to realize I can't erase myself, I live in my being, so I have to be completely honest and have faith in the outcome."

You can read her full post here.

Duffy is set to share her story in an upcoming Disney+ documentary.

Friends and the short-lived spinoff Joey made Matt LeBlanc a household name, but he stepped back from acting to focus on the person who matters most — his daughter, Marina, who was diagnosed with a form of dysplasia when she was almost a year old. The medical condition impacted her ability to speak and walk, and it also had the potential to cause seizures. Around the same time, he also went through a divorce from Melissa McKnight, his wife of three years.

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In 2016, Matt told the Daily Mirror, "For years and years, I barely left the house. I was burnt out. I wanted to not have a schedule, not be somewhere. I was in a position to do that. My agent was bummed. Most actors call their agents and say, 'What’s going on?' I'd call mine and say, 'Please lose my number for a few years.' It was a very dark time. I almost had a nervous breakdown. [...] My daughter was diagnosed with a problem with her head. It was a very dark period. But I got through it. Don't they say what doesn't kill us makes us stronger?"

Momodu Mansaray / Getty Images

Marina outgrew her dysplasia, and her dad continued to prioritize spending time with her. He said, "We make breakfast, go horseback riding, hiking. I really try to offset this computer-age-kid thing that's going on now with as much time outside. Spending time with her is the best thing I've ever done. We have a great bond, and it's the best thing in my life."

Marina is grown up now, and they appear to still be close.

Matt went on to play an Emmy-nominated and Golden Globe-winning role as a fictionalized version of himself on the Showtime series Episodes.

After several years of trying to make it in the music industry, Kesha had a breakthrough in 2009 with her massive hit single "TiK ToK." Her music basically defined the early 2010s. But in 2014, Kesha sued her producer, Dr. Luke, for alleged sexual abuse. He denied these allegations and countersued, and the two spent years in a complicated legal battle. Because she was locked in a contract, Kesha was unable to record new music unt

Heartbreaking Reasons Celebrities Left Spotlight