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.’
‘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.
