Faster Pussycat singer Taime Downe has spoken out after his fiancée tragically died on a cruise ship.
The heartbreaking accident occurred during the opening night of a seven-day 80s-themed Royal Caribbean cruise
The trip was supposed to be a nostalgic celebration, but ended in mystery and grief.
Kimberly Burch, 56, fell overboard on March 2 during the first night of The ‘80s Cruise. The couple had been together for about nine years, according to Downe.
Her mother, Carnell Burch, told TMZ the two were aboard the Explorer of the Seas when the incident happened approximately 20 miles off the coast of Freeport, Bahamas.
Carnell said Downe called her on Monday, March 3, to inform her of Kimberly’s death. She said her daughter had been drinking that night, which she described as “out of character,” and added she had no known emotional issues.
Downe, the 60-year-old frontman of Faster Pussycat, opened up about his devastating loss during a May 30 appearance on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation with Eddie Trunk, saying: “It’s a roller coaster. I’m hanging in there. I’m just taking it a day at a time.”
Trying to cope with the tragedy, Downe is returning to the road with his band, performing alongside acts like Vain, Supersuckers, The Rumours, and The Lonely Ones.
“And everybody thought going out on the road and doing what I do and being with my family in my band would be good for me,” Downe said, cited by PEOPLE. “So I’ve taken their advice and [I’m] doing this. We’re going out with some cool bands.”
He continued: “[I’ll] get to see a bunch of fans and a bunch of friends across the country. So I think it’ll be helpful. My fingers are crossed. I think so. I hope so. I’m just going out and doing what I love to do with the people I love. So, I think it can’t be anything but therapeutic, you know what I mean?”
Downe also added: “I’m just looking forward to playing shows and having fun.”
“I don’t really wanna talk about it with strangers, ’cause it doesn’t seem appropriate. It is what it is,” Downe said. He added that speaking about Kimberly’s death with her “close-knit friends” has been “good.”
He also addressed the possible cause: “So I blame alcohol and pills on it.
"There’s no way I’d touch booze. For me, that’s just completely disgusting in my brain, you know what I mean? So I’ve got some hatred for booze, ’cause I loved the hell out of Kimberly, and it was just hard to deal with. We spent basically nine years together.”
Downe noted: “I don’t wanna 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. It’s been hard on everybody.”
Cruise passengers described the terrifying moments after Kimberly went overboard. One guest told The Hollywood Reporter: “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] 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,” they continued.
“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.”
Reports later emerged that a “heated” argument had taken place between the couple before the fall. A passenger on social media wrote: “It looks like the woman ‘jumped’ from the balcony of her 8th floor room after an argument with her partner.”
While some passengers claimed security footage existed, authorities have not publicly confirmed whether Kimberly’s fall was accidental or intentional. Investigations remain ongoing, with all available footage and passenger statements under review.