The human resources executive caught cozying up to her married boss at a Coldplay concert on a massive jumbotron has finally spoken out, alleging the pair were not in a sexual relationship.
Kristin Cabot and ex-Astronomer CEO Andy Byron were caught in an intimate embrace during the concert in Boston on July 16 – but quickly separated and tried to hide when they realized they had been broadcast on the kiss cam.
Cabot, 53, stayed silent for months but has finally addressed the now-viral incident publicly, claiming it was a one time, alcohol-fueled mistake.
‘I made a bad decision and had a couple of High Noons and danced and acted inappropriately with my boss,’ she told the New York Times. ‘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.’
Cabot has been shamed online, mocked by celebrities and branded an ‘adulterer’ by strangers she bumps into at public places, she explained, adding that she received upwards of 60 threats on her life.
She admitted that she had a ‘crush’ on Byron and was excited to introduce him to her friends, but claimed that before that night the pair had not even kissed.
Although they shared tequila cocktails, danced together and exchanged a kiss in their VIP balcony seats at the concert, Cabot said that was the first and only time.
But she regrets what she described as a ‘cliché’ moment, adding: ‘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.’
Cabot’s ill-fated decision to duck and hide when the camera panned to her and Byron cuddling went viral after it was called out by Coldplay frontman Chris Martin.
‘Either they’re having an affair or they’re very shy,’ Martin told the crowd.
Byron, seeing himself on the big screen, appeared to mutter, ‘F****** hell, it’s me.’
Cabot recalled how she instantly felt ’embarrassed and so horrified’, with both her and Byron rushing back to the bar in the immediate aftermath.
She was concerned about two things: her career and her estranged husband Andrew who has at that very concert with a date of his own.
She told the NY Times how she did not want to humiliate her ex. She and Andrew had been married for two years, but were separated at the time of the scandal.
Cabot also knew how poorly it looked to be seen snuggled up to her boss. ‘I’m the head of HR and he’s the CEO It’s, like, so cliché and so bad,’ she recalled.
She shared how she and Byron, in an apparent state of shock, sat at the bar with their hands in their heads and began to devise a plan for moving forward.
They went to her Boston area apartment together and decided they needed to inform the Astronomer board about what happened.
They prepped an email but by the time they sent it the next morning, footage of their exchange had already gone viral on TikTok.
Both Byron and Cabot were immediately placed on leave by Astronomer as the company carried out an investigation into the incident.
Soon after, Byron resigned as CEO. Cabot’s resignation followed his.
Cabot said she has been looking for another job, but was allegedly told she is now ‘unemployable.’
As the scandal worsened, Cabot hired communications consultant Dini von Mueffling to help manage the fallout of the affair. Von Mueffling previously represented both Monica Lewisnky and Virginia Giuffre during their respective crises.
‘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 told the Times.
She explained that throughout her career she had to swat men away when they placed their bands on her body without invitation and dismiss their inappropriate remarks.
‘I worked so hard to dispel that all my life and here I was being accused of it,’ she said of the adultery accusations she faced.
Cabot filed for divorce from Andrew on August 13. He confirmed, in a statement at the time, that they had plans to end their marriage prior to the concert.
She told the NY Times that Andrew – who has stayed quiet about the incident, citing wanting privacy for his family – has been ‘nothing but a gentleman’ in wake of everything that has happened.
Their teenage children, who at the height of the scandal feared for their mother’s life, are now in therapy and were met with kindness upon their return to school.
Similarly, Cabot has started leaving her house again, seen improvement in her own mood and even resumed some of her former hobbies.
She and Byron remained in contact throughout the summer, but in September ceased all communication after agreeing their speaking made it ‘too hard for everyone to move on and heal,’ Cabot told the newspaper.
Byron and his wife Megan are still married, though they quietly sold their $5.8 million New York City apartment last month.
Currently, they are living in Massachusetts, according to the deed of sale filing.
Megan, 50, switched to her maiden name Kerrigan on social media and fled the marital home in Northborough, Massachusetts.
In late September, the couple were spotted for the first time in months on relaxed outings together near their coastal hideaway in Maine – and notably still wearing their wedding bands.
The pair appeared quietly content during a cozy sunset picnic at the beach, seated on deck chairs with sweaters warming their knees against the sea breeze as they enjoyed sodas and treats.
