The husband of Kristin Cabot — the Astronomer HR executive caught in an intimate moment with her CEO Andy Byron at a Coldplay concert earlier this summer — has spoken out for the first time since the scandal.
Cabot and Byron spawned one of the most viral moments of the year when a “kiss-cam” caught them leaping out of each other’s arms, sparking reports of an alleged affair that ultimately led both parties to step down.
Last week, it was revealed that Cabot had filed a petition for divorce from her husband, Andrew, on August 13.
However, in a new twist to the saga, a spokesperson for Andrew Cabot has told People magazine that he and Kristin “were privately and amicably separated several weeks before the Coldplay concert.”
“Their decision to divorce was already underway prior to that evening,” the spokesperson added. “Now that the divorce filing is public, Andrew hopes this provides respectful closure to speculation and allows his family the privacy they’ve always valued.”
“No further public comment will be made,” the spokesperson concluded.
Neither Kristin nor Byron has yet publicly addressed the nature of their relationship.
In the original kiss cam video, captured on July 16, the pair, who were embracing, with Byron wrapping his arms around his colleague’s waist from behind, awkwardly jumped out of each other’s arms as they flashed up on a Jumbotron during Coldplay’s Boston show. The HR chief covered her face with her hands, while Bryon crouched down, trying to hide from the camera.
Coldplay frontman Chris Martin said from the stage: “Oh, what… Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy. I’m not quite sure what to do.”
Astronomer, a tech company that says it uses AI to help businesses grow, responded to the incident by hiring Martin’s ex-wife, Gwyneth Paltrow, for a satirical advertisement posted to its Instagram account.
“Astronomer has got a lot of questions in the last few days, and they wanted me to answer the most common ones,” Paltrow says in the video. She then goes on to cut off questions about the scandal with answers about the business.
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“Q: How is your social media team holding…” one question reads, before Paltrow answers: “Yes! There is still space available at our Beyond Analytics event this September!
“And now, we’ll return to doing what we do best… delivering game-changing results for our customers. Thank you for your interest in Astronomer,” she concludes.
After the moment went viral online, the tech company issued a statement, saying: “Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding. Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met.
“Andy Byron has tendered his resignation, and the Board of Directors has accepted. The Board will begin a search for our next Chief Executive as Cofounder and Chief Product Officer Pete DeJoy continues to serve as interim CEO.”
DeJoy said in a LinkedIn post that despite the circumstances, Astronomer is now a “household name”.
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