Faster Pussycat singer Taime Downe is opening up about the tragic death of his late fiancée, Kimberly Burch, after she went overboard on a Royal Caribbean ship this March.
During a recent conversation with Eddie Trunk on SiriusXM’s Faction Talk, the musician addressed Burch’s “heartbreaking” death that occurred during Royal Caribbean’s 80s Cruise, where his band was one of many acts scheduled to perform. Trunk noted after the tragedy, he and some friends were “very concerned” about Burch’s death affecting his sobriety.
Downe, who has been sober for eight years, said, “What happened with Kimberly too was alcohol and prescription related. So you know, I blame alcohol and pills on it.” He added that he has “hatred for booze, because I know I love the hell outta Kimberly, and it was just hard to deal with.”
At the time of the incident, Burch’s mother, Carnell Burch, told TMZ that Burch fell off the ship following an argument with Downe, though it was unclear whether she fell or jumped. However, sources told The Hollywood Reporter there was security footage indicating the latter.
“I don’t want to get into what her psyche was at the time, but there’s a lot of things that make up people’s lives at a certain time of their life. And, you know, it’s been hard on everybody,” the Faster Pussycat singer said. “It’s just heartbreaking, you know?”
The 80s Cruise, which was held on Royal Caribbean ship Explorer of the Seas, was a nostalgia-based experience featuring such musical acts as Squeeze, Adam Ant, Tiffany, Men at Work and Faster Pussycat, with Downe. After Burch went overboard, Faster Pussycat resumed their scheduled performance without their lead singer.
At the time of the travesty, a passenger, who wished to remain anonymous, told THR that, “[The incident] happened around 11 p.m. Squeeze was the band playing last night. There was an announcement over the PA saying someone went overboard so the ship was going to stop and turn around to try and locate the person.”
The passenger added, “[The] ship was stopped for a few hours. Safety boats were deployed with floodlights to illuminate the surrounding area. Another cruise ship nearby had its floodlights on searching as well. My wife spoke with some people on one of the decks saying they heard that it was a woman and it was caught on camera. Can’t confirm though. Eventually the ship powered up and off we went. This morning a PA announcement said that the US Coast Guard had taken over the search. We arrived at Nassau, Bahamas a few hours behind schedule. No excursions were canceled. Haven’t heard anything since.”
