“I was so embarrassed and so horrified,” she admitted. “I’m the head of HR and he’s the CEO It’s, like, so cliché.”

Kristin Cabot breaks her silence after Coldplay kiss cam debacle: ‘My kids were afraid that I was going to die’

"I was so embarrassed and so horrified," she admitted. "I'm the head of HR and he's the CEO It's, like, so cliché."

By Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2025. Her work has previously appeared on *Entertainment Tonight* and Popsugar.

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December 18, 2025 12:47 p.m. ET

Kristin Cabot and former Astronomer CEO Andy Byron. Credit:

Kristin Cabot, the former head of HR for Astronomer, is speaking out after getting caught with her boss in the summer's most viral Coldplay kiss cam moment.

In her first interview since the moment made headlines, Cabot recounted the numerous ways the incident — which became known online as #coldplaygate — changed her life.

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

Cabot and the (now former) Astronomer CEO Andy Byron were with friends watching Coldplay perform in Foxborough, Mass., on July 16 when the Jumbotron cut to Byron and Cabot cuddling in the crowd. The pair immediately scrambled apart upon spotting themselves on the big screen, prompting lead singer Chris Martin to remark, "Either they're having an affair or they're just very shy."

Andy Byron and Kristin Cabot at a July Coldplay concert.

Internet sleuths quickly identified Byron and Cabot as the original TikTok video received 100 million views within days, which Cabot says left her scrambling to make things right with her two teenage kids, her employer, and her second husband, Andrew Cabot, whom she was separated from and was in the middle of negotiating a divorce settlement.

Cabot recalled that she and Byron bonded over their individual marital separations: Cabot from her second husband, Andrew, the CEO of a rum distillery, and Byron from his wife, Megan. Byron declined to be interviewed by the publication but has been photographed with his wife since the incident, with both still wearing their wedding rings. Neither of them appears to have filed for divorce, per PEOPLE.

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"I don't think my separation would have come as a surprise to him, but his definitely did for me," Cabot told the outlet. "To have someone else going through it at the exact same time that you can talk to was an amazing support."

When they were caught by the kiss cam, Cabot said her first thought was Andrew, who was also attending the concert. "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," she shared.****"Then a beat later, my mind turns to, 'Oh God, Andy's my boss.' I was so embarrassed and so horrified," she added. "I'm the head of HR., and he's the CEO. It's, like, so cliché and so bad. We both just sat there with our heads in our hands, like, 'What just happened?'"

Byron resigned from his position at Astronomer following the controversy, and a formal investigation was launched at the company into the incident. Cabot said that after Astronomer concluded its investigation, the company asked her to return to her role, but instead she negotiated her resignation, which was announced on July 24.

Cabot admitted that she couldn't imagine how she "could stand up as HR chief" when she was a laughingstock.

She shared that she has since filed for divorce from Andrew, whom she told the *NYT* has been "nothing but a gentleman" in the wake of the controversy. While she and Bryon had been in touch all summer, their contact has been minimal since September, when they met and agreed "speaking with each other was going to make it too hard for everyone to move on and heal."

Will Champion, Chris Martin, and Guy Berryman of Coldplay perform on July 7, 2025.

Robert Okine/Getty

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Cabot said the virality of the video turned her into "a punchline and a target" almost overnight. Online, she said she was labeled "a slut," "a homewrecker," and "a gold digger." Her appearance was scrutinized. She was doxxed. For weeks, she received "500 or 600 calls a day." Paparazzi parked outside her home. Death threats poured in. Celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow and the cohosts of *The View* made "her humiliation their material."

Her children, she said, became reluctant to be seen with her in public due to the intense scrutiny. "They were afraid that I was going to die and they were going to die," Cabot told the outlet. "That's when the wheels fell off the cart."

"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 lamented.**

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