Faster Pussycat frontman Taime Downe breaks silence on fiancee's mysterious cruise ship death

News.com.au

03-06-2025

Faster Pussycat frontman Taime Downe has opened up about his fiancee Kimberly Burch's death for the first time since she plunged over the side of a cruise ship following an alleged argument with the '80s glam rocker on March 2.
'It's a roller coaster,' Downe, 60, said during SiriusXM's Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk on Friday, May 30.
'I'm hanging in there. I'm just taking it a day at a time.
'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,' he continued, reports the New York Post.
'So I've taken their advice and I'm doing this. We're going out with some cool bands.'
Downe and Burch, 56, were on-board Royal Caribbean ship Explorer of the Seas for an '80s-themed cruise where Faster Pussycat was performing alongside other bands like Men at Work, Squeeze and Tiffany.
But on the first night of the seven-day voyage, Burch fell to her death while the ship was out to sea between Miami and the Bahamas.
Burch's mother told entertainment website TMZ that the tragedy happened shortly after her daughter and Downe got into a 'heated' argument and that Burch had been drinking shortly before falling overboard.
Downe added that his fiancee's shocking death was 'alcohol and prescription-related' during his interview with Trunk.
'So I blame alcohol and pills on it,' he said. '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,' the House of Pain singer continued. 'We spent basically nine years together.'
'This is just heavy s**t,' Downe added, 'and I'm just looking forward to playing shows and having fun'.
While the Poison Ivy vocalist said that 'it is what it is,' he also admitted that it's 'good to talk about it' three months after his fiancee's disappearance and death.
'It's good to talk about it. It's good to talk about it with my friends, my close-knit friends,' he said. 'But I don't really wanna talk about it with strangers, 'cause it doesn't seem appropriate'.
'It is what it is,' Downe added.
A video of the incident, which has since been obtained by investigators, reportedly showed Burch climbing the cruise ship's railing before plunging off. It is still unclear whether she purposely jumped or accidentally fell.
Her body was never recovered.
Her brother, Keith, exclusively told The Post in March that his family is 'lost' without Burch.
'We feel lost … We have no answers at all,' he said. 'Something happening to one of your loved ones, and not even knowing what happened — it's awful'.
Her family also addressed her death in a Facebook on March 4.
'She will be greatly missed by all who knew and loved her,' her loved ones stated.
'We ask for prayers during this time for our family as we try to wrap our minds around this heartbreaking tragedy.
'We love and miss you, Kimberly Burch!'
Meanwhile, Downe and Faster Pussycat kicked off a new tour on May 30 in Las Vegas.
The band will be on the road until early July.
'I just think it'll be very therapeutic to get to see a bunch of fans and a bunch of friends across the country,' Downe said of Faster Pussycat's current tour. 'So I think it'll be helpful'.