IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

'Below Deck' star Captain Lee Rosbach opens up about son's accidental overdose

In a new interview, the Bravo personality is speaking out about the tragic death of his 42-year-old son, Joshua.
Captain Lee Rosbach
"Below Deck" star Captain Lee Rosbach on Oct. 3, 2018 in New York City.Jim Spellman / Getty Images
/ Source: TODAY

Bravo's Captain Lee Rosbach is still trying to come to terms with the death of his son, Joshua Rosbach.

The star of "Below Deck" opened up to Page Six about his grief following the devastating discovery of his son who passed away on July 22 due to an accidental drug overdose. The pills appeared to be prescription opioids but were actually counterfeit pills laced with a toxic combination of cocaine, heroin and fentanyl.

“I deal with it every day," Rosbach told the news outlet. "I hate going to sleep, and I hate waking up. There’s a hole there that can’t be filled.”

The yachting industry veteran and author of "Running Against the Tide: True Tales from the Stud of the Sea" posted a picture of Josh on Instagram shortly after his death this past summer, commemorating the life of his son who struggled with addiction for twenty years and passed away at the age of 42.

"This past Saturday, my beloved wife Mary Anne and I laid our youngest son, Joshua Lee Rosbach to rest," the Captain wrote in his moving post. "After a twenty year struggle, he finally succumbed to the demons he fought so long and so hard. Addiction is an insidious disease that knows no social status or geographic boundaries. Whether you live in a 10,000 sq ft mansion or a double wide trailer, the path of death, destruction and devastation it leaves remains the same."

Since Josh's death, Captain Rosbach has been struggling to come to terms with the loss.

“And the person who said, ‘time heals all wounds,’ is full of it," he said in the new interview. "It doesn’t. The only thing that time may do for you is allow you to learn the skills you need to cope with the situation that you’re dealing with. As parents, you’re not designed to bury your children.”

The Captain made the grim discovery of his son's body when he went to his Fort Lauderdale apartment to check on him.

“I walked in and he was sitting on the sofa with his head in his hands, and I thought he had just passed out. I felt relieved. I thought he was fine,” said Rosbach. “Then I went over to give him a hug, and he was cold. He’d gone.”

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the increased prescription of opioid medications has led to an epidemic where widespread addiction to the pills given for pain has taken the lives of an estimated 130 people per day. In 2017, HHS declared the situation a public health emergency.

On Saturday, Captain Rosbach posted the same picture of Josh to Instagram, saying that he is participating in a 5K for the Special Olympics in memory of his son.

In his interview with Page Six, the Captain said that when he is ready, he will work to fight the opioid epidemic which claimed the life of his son and so many others.

He said of this pursuit, “I don’t want to start something, then not be able to finish it."