HR Exec Caught With Boss On Kiss Cam Says She Suffered ‘Bulk Of The Abuse’

Kristin Cabot, a former HR executive, has spoken out six months after going viral for a kiss cam moment with her boss, Astronomer CEO Andy Byron, at a Coldplay concert.

The incident led both to resign. Cabot, navigating a divorce, faced death threats and intense backlash, with critics accusing her of using relationships to advance her career.

In recent interviews, Kristin Cabot highlighted the gendered scrutiny she endured, reflecting on the public and personal impact of the viral moment.

Cabot, the former HR chief who became an overnight viral sensation after a kiss cam moment with her boss at a Coldplay concert, has finally shared her side of the story.

The July 16 incident, which featured Cabot and then-Astronomer CEO Andy Byron embracing before abruptly leaping apart once they realized they were on camera, quickly racked up over 100 million views on TikTok.

Now, in a candid interview with the New York Times, Cabot, 53, reflected on the aftermath and her evolving perspective over the past six months.

She described the moment as “so embarrassing and horrifying,” admitting, “I’m the head of HR, and he’s the CEO. It’s, like, so cliché and so bad.”

The incident ultimately led both Cabot and Byron to resign from Astronomer. Initially, they stayed in touch, but by September, they agreed that “speaking with each other was going to make it too hard for everyone to move on and heal.”

Since then, the viral duo have had “minimal” communication.

Explaining why she chose to speak out now, Cabot told The Times in another interview that the harassment has never stopped, for her or her children.

She shared that her kids feel embarrassed to be seen with her at school or sports events.

“They’re mad at me. And they can be mad at me for the rest of their lives—I have to take that,” she said.

Cabot also reflected on the gendered nature of the backlash, wondering if Byron faced the same scrutiny.

“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 further from reality,” she said. “I worked so hard to dispel that all my life, and here I was being accused of it.”

Cabot added that the scandal brought intense public scrutiny, with critics dissecting her appearance, body, and clothing, and even high-profile figures like Whoopi Goldberg and Gwyneth Paltrow weighing in, the latter through a tongue-in-cheek promotional video for Astronomer.

Kabot took issue particularly with Paltrow, calling out the actress for poking fun at her kiss cam scandal in an ad for the company, Astronomer.

“I was such a fan of her company, which seemed to be about uplifting women,” Cabot told The Times about Paltrow’s “Goop” business. “And then she did this. I thought, ‘How dare she, after the beating she got for all the conscious uncoupling stuff?’ What a hypocrite.”

Cabot’s remark about Paltrow’s “uncoupling stuff” was in reference to the actress’s 2014 separation from Coldplay’s Chris Martin, a move she labeled “conscious uncoupling” at the time, to mixed reactions.

Cabot, in her chat with the New York Times, revealed that she had developed feelings for Byron at work, describing a “crush,” but clarifying they were “not an item” and she kept herself in check due to his role as her boss.

Their kiss at the concert was their first and only one. She recalled the immediate shock after seeing themselves on the jumbotron: “We both just sat there with our heads in our hands, like, ‘What just happened?'”

At the time, Cabot was in the midst of a divorce from her second husband, Andrew Cabot, which had already been underway. She recounted the disturbing messages and death threats she received afterward, some of which detailed her daily habits, leaving her children frightened.

Cabot remembered one chilling note: “I know you shop at Market Basket and I’m coming for you.”

At another point, her kids overheard her playing one of the threatening messages aloud.

“They were already in really bad shape, and that’s when the wheels fell off the cart,” she said. “My kids were afraid I was going to die, and they were going to die.”

Cabot also addressed the backlash she faced, including accusations that she used personal relationships to advance her career.

She emphasized her lifelong commitment to independence, noting that she had supported her family on her own since age 13 and particularly after her first divorce in 2018.

“I supported my family entirely on my own, and I was able to keep my kids in incredibly fantastic schools and live in a comfy, warm house. I have never been more proud of anything in my entire life,” Cabot noted.

Reflecting on the incident, Cabot said she hopes to teach her children that mistakes happen, but “you don’t have to be threatened to be killed for them.”

“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 explained.