Coldplay kisscam HR boss Kristin Cabot breaks silence on viral scandal – from ‘happy crush’ with CEO to kids in tears
Cabot said she did not hear the announcement that the jumbotron was about to focus on the crowd
A HR boss caught on Coldplay’s kisscam in a viral 16-second clip has spoken publicly for the first time.
Kristin Cabot, 53, a former senior exec at tech firm Astronomer, says the moment she was shown embracing her boss at a Coldplay concert in Boston “ruined” her life.
Ex-Astronomer HR chief Kristin Cabot has broken her silence since the viral Coldplay kisscam scandalCredit: Linkedin
Kristin was caught canoodling with then boss Andy Byron back in July which led the pair to both resign from their jobsCredit: tiktok/instaagraace
Byron dived to hide behind the barrier while Cabot turned and covered her faceCredit: tiktok/instaagraace
She recalled the moment Coldplay frontman Chris Martin focused the stadium camera on her and Andy Byron, then joked: “Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy.”
Cabot told The Times: “Everything just flashed before my eyes.”
The clip, filmed by another concertgoer and posted to TikTok, was viewed millions of times and sparked an online hunt to identify the pair.
Both were widely assumed to be cheating, but Cabot said that assumption was wrong.
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She explained the embrace was the first time she and Byron had been physically affectionate and that both were amicably separated from their partners.
“I could have been struck by lightning, I could have won the lottery, or this could have happened,” Cabot said.
“But I’m not some celebrity, I’m just a mom from New Hampshire.”
At the time, Cabot was Astronomer’s head of HR and Byron was the company’s CEO.
She had joined the start-up in November after being headhunted for her experience at major advertising firms.
Cabot described Byron as a supportive boss who ensured women “had a seat at the table”, adding: “It was the first company in the male-dominated professions I’d worked in where I felt my gender was not an issue.”
About a month before the concert, Cabot said, they told each other they had split from their partners.
Over time, she said that support turned into what she called “a big happy crush”.
On the night of the concert, Cabot believed she was anonymous among tens of thousands of fans.
“We were sitting in the back of the stadium … in the pitch black just feeling totally anonymous,” she said.
The former HR boss revealed she did not hear the announcement that the jumbotron was about to focus on the crowd.
“So suddenly I’m just seeing us on screen.”
Her first thoughts were of her estranged husband, Andrew, who she later learned was also at the concert.
She said: “My immediate reaction was, ‘Holy s***, Andrew’s here’.”
“Then a beat later my mind turns to, ‘Oh God, Andy’s my effing boss’.”
Cabot and Byron left the stadium quickly and agreed to alert Astronomer’s board.
By the early hours of the morning, the video was already spreading online.
Kristin pictured with ex-husband Andrew and his two childrenCredit: Facebook
Cabot and Andrew bought a multi-million-dollar home earlier this year and took out a huge mortgageCredit: Seacoast Real Estate Photography
At 4am, Cabot said her husband sent her a screenshot of the clip with the message: “I think you should know this is out there.”
The executive said the backlash fell disproportionately on her, adding: “I became a meme, I was the most maligned HR manager in HR history.”
She also rejected accusations that she was a “gold-digger” or had “slept my way to the top”.
Even Astronomer joked about the situation a few weeks after the viral moment.
They hired actress Gwyneth Paltrow – Chris Martin’s ex-husband – for a PR stunt where she jokingly answered questions on the shocking kiss.
The company commercial was praised for its comedy and clever timing but Cabot took it as the ultimate insult.
She revealed she threw away everything she owned from Paltrow’s brand Goop for being “a hypocrite”.
Cabot said: “I was such a fan of her company, which seemed to be about uplifting women.
“And then she did this… What a hypocrite.”
Cabot went on to speak about how the fallout quickly reached her family.
“My daughter burst into tears,” Cabot said, recalling telling her children.
Her son, she said, tried to reassure her that it would “probably go away”, but “it did not.”
Astronomer launched an internal investigation, with Byron resigning within days.
The company later said it found no evidence of an affair but said leadership standards had not been met.
Cabot stepped down soon after, saying: “There was a lot of noise around me not taking accountability, but what actually happened is the board said, ‘Please stay’, and I said, ‘How?’”
She says that without the online pile-on, she could have apologised and kept her job.
Instead, she retreated to an Airbnb, saying she was in “too dark a place” to parent her children, and has since filed for divorce from her husband.
Cabot said she has struggled to find work and has been told she is “unemployable”.
She has hired a communications adviser and says she is speaking out to highlight the harm caused by online shaming.
Coldplay kiss cam company Astronomer hires Chris Martin’s ex Gwyneth Paltrow for a tongue-in-cheek videoCredit: Linkedin
Andy Byron (Green sweater) pictured with Kristin Cabot (Right)Credit: Facebook
