Kristin Cabot Breaks Silence On Viral Coldplay Kiss Cam Scandal: 'Even If I Did Have An Affair...'

Kristin Cabot, who previously served as Astronomer’s Head of Human Resources, has spoken publicly for the first time after she was filmed embracing then-CEO Andy Byron at a Coldplay concert in July. In an interview with The New York Times, she described the episode as a “bad decision”.

Cabot, 53, told The New York Times that the viral “kiss cam” clip from a Coldplay show in Boston on July 16 had far-reaching consequences for her life. 

“I made a bad decision and had a couple of High Noons and danced and acted inappropriately with my boss. And it’s not nothing. And I took accountability and I gave up my career for that. That’s the price I chose to pay,” she said.

The widely shared video prompted Cabot to step down from her role as head of HR at Astronomer. The incident also led to the resignation of then-CEO Andy Byron.

In a conversation with The Times, Cabot admitted she had “a big happy crush” on her boss.

“I definitely thought he was a good-looking guy and I had that thought of, ‘If I didn’t work here …,’ ” Cabot told The Times.

Cabot told The Times that both she and Byron were in the midst of marital separations when the incident occurred.

She endured a wave of online abuse, including threats to her safety, with many branding her a “homewrecker” and a “gold digger”, The Times reported. 

Despite Cabot’s account, the state of Byron’s relationship remains uncertain. He has not spoken publicly on the matter, and he was spotted with his wife in September, both still wearing their wedding rings, PEOPLE reported.

“I think as a woman, as women always do, I took the bulk of the abuse. People would say things like I was a ‘gold-digger’ or I ‘slept my way to the top’, which just couldn’t be farther from reality,” Cabot told The Times.

Cabot stated that she and her second husband, Andrew, CEO of a rum distillery and scion of one of Boston’s prominent families, were undergoing “an amicable separation” at the time, as per the report. 

“Even if I did have an affair, it’s not anybody’s business. It has been like a scarlet letter; people erased everything I’d accomplished in my life and achieved in my career. This can’t be the final word,” she told The Times.

She also described the night when the camera caught them at the concert.

“My immediate reaction was, ‘Holy shit, Andrew’s here’,” says Cabot. “We were in the middle of an incredibly — and amazingly — amicable separation. I was worried I would embarrass him. He’s an amazing guy and does not deserve that.”

“Then a beat later my mind turns to, ‘Oh God, Andy’s my effing boss’, this is a bad look. Boston’s not a big town. And while it wasn’t an Astronomer event or anything, there could have been investors or other staff there,” she said.

What Cabot desires now is not an apology from the internet but empathy, especially to protect her children.

“I want my kids to know that you can make mistakes, and you can really screw up. But you don’t have to be threatened to be killed for them,” she added.