Two months after a Coldplay concert moment blew up careers and families, someone close to Kristin Cabot has spoken out to insist there was no secret office romance happening behind the scenes.
ICYMI: back in July, then-Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and the company’s chief people officer, Kristin Cabot, were caught on the kiss cam at Coldplay’s Gillette Stadium gig in Massachusetts. Cameras nabbed Byron with his arms around Cabot before the pair awkwardly ducked out of shot. It was a blink-and-you-miss-it hug that went instantly viral, fuelled by frontman Chris Martin joking from the stage that the two were either “having an affair or just very shy”.
This particular kiss cam moment really lit up the internet, but according to a source close to Cabot, the truth was nowhere near as scandalous as the memes made it.
Speaking to PEOPLE, the source stressed that while the hug was inappropriate considering Byron was Cabot’s boss, the viral clip did not capture some steamy rendezvous.
“Kristin and Andy had an excellent working relationship, a great friendship. There was no affair,” the source said.
The pair ended up resigning from Astronomer within weeks of the Coldplay moment after an avalanche of tabloid headlines and social media snooping. In a statement at the time, Astronomer said their leaders “are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met”.
But the Cabot source insists the fallout went way beyond what actually happened. “The scandal, the downfall, the loss of the job — all of that is unfair.”
Byron is married. Cabot was too — but legally separated. According to court documents reported by PEOPLE, she filed for divorce in August, noting both she and her husband Andrew Cabot (CEO of Privateer Rum) had already moved on with their lives. In fact, Andrew was reportedly also at that very same Coldplay show… on a date. What I would do to have had Andy and a camera there for that POV.
Still, the kiss-cam saga managed to swallow up both households. “It’s unfathomable to witness what has happened, and how devastating it can be, for not just individuals, but entire families,” the source said.
Cabot and Byron’s families have reportedly been tailed by paparazzi, with women laughing and snapping photos while Cabot picked up her son from work. “In the first three days after the news broke, she had about 900 death threats on her phone,” the source told PEOPLE.
Cabot resigned from her role at Astronomer in late July, just days after Byron. She’s since been keeping a low profile and focusing on her family. The source stressed that for such a short clip, the impact has been extreme. “All I can think of is that this could happen to any of us at any time,” they said.
“These are real people and real families. The way people have taken a lot of enjoyment at their expense, it’s hard to see.”
Lead image: TikTok
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