Kristin Cabot, a former HR govt, has spoken out six months after going viral for a kiss cam second together with her boss, Astronomer CEO Andy Byron, at a Coldplay live performance.
The incident led each to resign. Cabot, navigating a divorce, confronted loss of life threats and intense backlash, with critics accusing her of utilizing relationships to advance her profession.
In current interviews, Kristin Cabot highlighted the gendered scrutiny she endured, reflecting on the general public and private impression of the viral second.
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Kristin Cabot Reveals She And CEO Andy Byron Have ‘Minimal’ Contact After Viral Kiss Cam Incident
Cabot, the previous HR chief who turned an in a single day viral sensation after a kiss cam second together with her boss at a Coldplay live performance, has lastly shared her aspect of the story.
The July 16 incident, which featured Cabot and then-Astronomer CEO Andy Byron embracing earlier than abruptly leaping aside as soon as they realized they have been on digicam, rapidly racked up over 100 million views on TikTok.
Now, in a candid interview with the New York Times, Cabot, 53, mirrored on the aftermath and her evolving perspective over the previous six months.
She described the second as “so embarrassing and horrifying,” admitting, “I am the top of HR, and he is the CEO. It is, like, so cliché and so unhealthy.”
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The incident finally led each Cabot and Byron to resign from Astronomer. Initially, they stayed in contact, however by September, they agreed that “talking with one another was going to make it too onerous for everybody to maneuver on and heal.”
Since then, the viral duo have had “minimal” communication.
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The Ex-HR Chief Says She Confronted The ‘Bulk Of The Abuse’ And Her Youngsters Are Embarrassed To Be Seen With Her

Explaining why she selected to talk out now, Cabot advised The Times in one other interview that the harassment has by no means stopped, for her or her youngsters.
She shared that her youngsters really feel embarrassed to be seen together with her at college or sports activities occasions.
“They’re mad at me. And they are often mad at me for the remainder of their lives—I’ve to take that,” she mentioned.
Cabot additionally mirrored on the gendered nature of the backlash, questioning if Byron confronted the identical scrutiny.
“I feel as a lady, as ladies all the time do, I took the majority of the abuse. Folks would say issues like I used to be a ‘gold-digger’ or I ‘slept my option to the highest’, which simply could not be farther from actuality,” she mentioned. “I labored so onerous to dispel that every one my life, and right here I used to be being accused of it.”
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Cabot added that the scandal introduced intense public scrutiny, with critics dissecting her look, physique, and clothes, and even high-profile figures like Whoopi Goldberg and Gwyneth Paltrow weighing in, the latter by a tongue-in-cheek promotional video for Astronomer.
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Kristin Cabot Slammed Gwyneth Paltrow For Mocking Her Scandal In An AD
Kabot took concern notably with Paltrow, calling out the actress for poking enjoyable at her kiss cam scandal in an advert for the corporate, Astronomer.
“I used to be such a fan of her firm, which gave the impression to be about uplifting ladies,” Cabot advised The Occasions about Paltrow’s “Goop” enterprise. “After which she did this. I assumed, ‘How dare she, after the beating she bought for all of the aware uncoupling stuff?’ What a hypocrite.”
Cabot’s comment about Paltrow’s “uncoupling stuff” was in reference to the actress’s 2014 separation from Coldplay’s Chris Martin, a transfer she labeled “aware uncoupling” on the time, to combined reactions.
The Former HR Chief Admits To A Office Crush On Andy Byron Earlier than Their Viral Kiss Cam Second

Cabot, in her chat with the New York Occasions, revealed that she had developed emotions for Byron at work, describing a “crush,” however clarifying they have been “not an merchandise” and she or he stored herself in verify because of his function as her boss.
Their kiss on the live performance was their first and just one. She recalled the rapid shock after seeing themselves on the jumbotron: “We each simply sat there with our heads in our arms, like, ‘What simply occurred?'”
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 loss of life threats she acquired afterward, a few of which detailed her day by day habits, leaving her youngsters frightened.
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Cabot remembered one chilling observe: “I do know you store at Market Basket and I am coming for you.”
At one other level, her youngsters overheard her enjoying one of many threatening messages aloud.
“They have been already in actually unhealthy form, and that is when the wheels fell off the cart,” she mentioned. “My youngsters have been afraid I used to be going to die, they usually have been going to die.”
Kristin Cabot Defends Independence Amid Profession Backlash

Cabot additionally addressed the backlash she confronted, together with accusations that she used private relationships to advance her profession.
She emphasised her lifelong dedication to independence, noting that she had supported her household on her personal since age 13 and notably after her first divorce in 2018.
“I supported my household solely alone, and I used to be in a position to hold my youngsters in extremely unbelievable faculties and reside in a snug, heat home. I’ve by no means been extra pleased with something in my complete life,” Cabot famous.
Reflecting on the incident, Cabot mentioned she hopes to show her youngsters that errors occur, however “you do not have to be threatened to be killed for them.”
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“I made a foul determination and had a few Excessive 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 defined.
