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 along with her boss, Astronomer CEO Andy Byron, at a Coldplay concert.

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

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

Cabot, the previous HR chief who became an overnight viral sensation after a kiss cam moment along 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 Recent 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 top of HR, and he’s the CEO. It’s, like, so cliché and so bad.”

The incident ultimately led each Cabot and Byron to resign from Astronomer. Initially, they stayed in contact, but by September, they agreed that “speaking with one another was going to make it too hard for everybody to maneuver on and heal.”

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

Explaining why she selected to talk out now, Cabot told The Times in one other interview that the harassment has never stopped, for her or her children.

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

“They’re mad at me. They usually will be mad at me for the remaining of their lives—I even have to take that,” she said.

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

“I feel as a lady, as women all the time do, I took the majority of the abuse. People would say things like I used to be a ‘gold-digger’ or I ‘slept my method to the highest’, which just couldn’t be farther from reality,” she said. “I worked so hard to dispel that every one my life, and here I used to be 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 corporate, Astronomer.

“I used to be such a fan of her company, which appeared to be about uplifting women,” Cabot told The Times about Paltrow’s “Goop” business. “After which she did this. I believed, ‘How dare she, after the beating she got for all of 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” on the time, to mixed reactions.

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

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

On the time, Cabot was within 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, a few of which detailed her every day habits, leaving her children frightened.

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

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

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

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

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 alone, and I used to be capable of keep my kids in incredibly unbelievable schools and live in a comfortable, warm house. I even have never been more pleased with anything in my entire life,” Cabot noted.

Reflecting on the incident, Cabot said she hopes to show her children that mistakes occur, but “you do not have to be threatened to be killed for them.”

“I made a foul decision and had a few High Noons and danced and acted inappropriately with my boss. And it is not nothing. And I took accountability, and I gave up my profession for that. That is the worth I selected to pay,” she explained.