The HR director at the centre of the Coldplay kiss cam video has said the 16 second video ruined her life in her first public comments since the scandal erupted.
Kristin Cabot revealed that her embrace with Astronomer CEO Andy Byron – caught on jumbotron at a Coldplay concert in July – was the first time the pair were physically affectionate.
Speaking to The Times, the mum said the reason she covered her face in the viral moment was because her estranged husband was in the audience.
Cabot said the whole affair, which saw her resign from her job, had been ‘like a scarlet letter’ as she was deluged with threatening and aggressive messages.
She told The Times: ‘I could have been struck by lightning, I could have won the lottery, or this could have happened.
‘Even if I did have an affair, it’s not anybody’s business.
‘I became a meme, I was the most maligned HR manager in HR history,
‘It has been like a scarlet letter; people erased everything I’d accomplished in my life and achieved in my career. This can’t be the final word.’
Cabot says her life changed forever when she and Astronomer’s CEO Byron were was caught with their hands around each other at the Coldplay concert in Boston.
After they abruptly tried to hide from the camera, frontman Chris Martin joked: ‘Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy!’
The clip went viral and internet sleuths soon worked out who the pair were and accused them of being engaged in an affair.
An investigation was launched soon after by the $1.3billion software firm, and both Byron and Andy stepped down from their senior roles.
Cabot has now revealed that while the pair were not intimate before the concert, she had developed ‘a big happy crush’ on her boss.
She says they became close after they both split from their partners, so decided to invite him to the ill-fated Coldplay concert when two free tickets came her way.
That night, The Times reports her estranged husband was also at the concert, supposedly on a first date of his own.
The then HR boss recalled how she was ‘on top of the world’ during the show as she embraced Byron and drank High Noons vodka seltzers.
She didn’t hear the announcement about the jumbotron and then ‘suddenly’ saw her face on the screen.
‘My immediate reaction was, “Holy shit, Andrew’s here”
‘We were in the middle of an incredibly — and amazingly — amicable separation. I was worried I would embarrass him.’
Cabot said the pair rushed out of the Gillette stadium and game planned a joint email to the company’s board of directors, talking over the phone for hours that evening.
That’s when her estranged husband Andrew shared a screenshot of the video going viral online.
Cabot describes her world collapsing around her as ‘Coldplaygate’ unfolded, with one of her kids bursting into tears and admitting she in ‘too dark a place’ to parent her children.
While the, by then, ex-CEO and HR director kept in touch for a while after exchanging ‘crisis management advice’ she said they not no longer speak.
She filed for divorce from Andrew in august, while the status of Byron’s marriage is not known.
Cabot says she was flooded with messages calling her a ‘homewrecker’ and telling her to meet a ‘violent end’.
Months after the video went viral, she says strangers still shout abuse at her in the street and she has been told she is ‘unemployable’.
She said her children are so embarrassed by her they don’t let her pick them up from school or go to their sports games.
Cabot is now calling on people ‘to be kinder to each other’ and ‘not constantly tear one another down’ as she tries to rebuild her image and reputation.
The person behind the viral clip, Grace Springer, 28, from New Jersey, has previously stood by her decision to share it online.
She told The U.S. Sun: ‘I had no idea who the couple was. Just thought I caught an interesting reaction to the kiss cam and decided to post it.
‘A part of me feels bad for turning these people’s lives upside down, but, play stupid games… win stupid prizes.
‘I hope their partners can heal from this and get a second chance at the happiness they deserve with their future still in front of them.’
Byron and Coldplay did not respond to requests from The Times for comment.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
For more stories like this, check our news page.
