One of the more fascinating elements of the Coldplay Kiss Cam Gate™ is that when the camera landed on the couple at the center of it all — Andy Byron and Kristin Cabot, CEO and HR Chief of tech startup Astronomer, respectively, and married to other people — the pair were merely engaged in a spoon-hug. Granted, it looked intimate and they were holding hands; but there were still ways to play it off as no big deal. What sent the moment into overdrive was the couple’s kneejerk reactions to duck and cover. Nothing signals “I’m doing something I shouldn’t be” like immediately desisting from the verboten activity and hiding. Since that fateful July concert, Andy and Kristin have both resigned from Astronomer, and Kristin has filed for divorce from her husband Andrew Cabot. The Cabots have also been getting the backstory out that they were already separated before the Kiss Cam seen around the world. Well, now “a source close to” Kristin is speaking out, primarily to decry that there was no affair and the fallout has been deeply unfair.
Inappropriate hugging, but no affair: “Kristin and Andy [Byron] had an excellent working relationship, a great friendship. There was no affair,” the source tells PEOPLE. “It was inappropriate to be hugging your boss at a concert, and she accepts full responsibility for it,” the source says. “But the scandal, the downfall, the loss of the job — all of that is unfair.” … The moment thrust two couples — Byron and his reported spouse, Megan, and Cabot and her husband, Andrew — into the spotlight, fueling countless memes and headlines.
It could happen to any of us! “It is important to note how inappropriately mislabeled Kristin has been — as a homewrecker,” says the source, who notes Byron and Cabot attended the concert with a group of friends. “It’s unfathomable to witness what has happened, and how devastating it can be, for not just individuals, but entire families,” says the source. “All I can think of is that this could happen to any of us at any time. I think all of the misinformation has been the most mind-blowing to witness. These are real people and real families,” they say. “The way people have taken a lot of enjoyment at their expense, it’s hard to see.”
Kristin’s husband was also there “on a date”?? “Kristin and Andrew [Cabot] had been living apart,” the Cabot source says, adding that on the night Cabot was seen with Byron, her husband was also “at the Coldplay concert on a date.” “It was not a company event,” says the source of Byron and Cabot being together that night. “There was no company box. It was a night with a big group of friends and an inappropriate moment.”
The lack of privacy has been hard: As for how Cabot is doing, the source says, “It’s been hard for her to leave the house. She’s been prioritizing her family. Her kids have been through a lot.” … “Kristin had people standing outside her car while she was picking her son up from work, grown women laughing, taking pictures, pointing,” the source says. “It’s been a tough thing to watch.” … “In the first three days after the news broke, she had about 900 death threats on her phone,” the source says. “And just overall, the mockery made of someone, the way people really seem to enjoy it and feel as though if somebody makes a mistake — public shaming is absolutely on the table as a punishment.”
Focusing on the kids: Right now, the source says, Cabot “is making sure her kids are okay, and that’s going to take time. Kristin has a lot of family and friends around her that know who she really is and love her, and will all see her through this,” the source says, adding, “It will take time.”
The people I’ve always felt the most for in this messy situation are all the kids involved. Kristin has kids from a previous marriage, her now-estranged husband has kids from a previous marriage, and Andy Byron has kids with his current wife (or as People Mag referred to her, “his reported spouse, Megan”). I really hope all of these kids have solid support networks. And it’s also good that Kristin has support of her own from friends and family, including this devoted “source” who insists that Kristin is no homewrecker. The thing is, though, we’re still missing half the equation, right? The “source” can only speak to the parties she knows, the Cabots (and commenting that Andrew Cabot was also “on a date” at the concert sure seems like a telling admission). But if Byron “and his reported spouse” were not separated, then… yeah. And frankly, the Byrons don’t owe the public any explanation or clarification. I will say, that if Coldplay frontman Chris Martin championed the practice of conscious uncoupling, then this group is giving a master class in unconscious entanglement.
