Coldplay’s Chris Martin turned a possibly secret romance very public in the middle of his concert, and sparked chaos on the internet.
But the embrace between Astronomer CEO Andy Byron and his HR chief Kristin Cabot wasn’t as it appeared, new information has revealed.
A source has said that Cabot was in the process of divorcing her husband before attending the concert – and there was ‘no affair’.
‘Kristin and Andy had an excellent working relationship, a great friendship. There was no affair,’ the source close to Kristin told People.
‘It was inappropriate to be hugging your boss at a concert, and she accepts full responsibility for it. But the scandal, the downfall, the loss of the job — all of that is unfair.’
The pair’s behaviour drew scrutiny, though – they squirmed and tried to duck out of view, as Chris kept the banter going: ‘Alright, come on, you’re okay! Oh—what? Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy!’
The fallout from the ‘affair’ spurred Kristin to resign, and Andy to quit after being put on leave while ‘under investigation’.
Internet sleuths previously worked out who the pair were and that Byron was indeed married to another woman, Megan Kerrigan Byron.
The source said Andy and Kristin had attended the concert together as friends, and the fallout has gone far beyond what’s necessary.
‘It is important to note how inappropriately mislabeled Kristin has been — as a homewrecker,’ they added.
‘It’s unfathomable to witness what has happened and how devastating it can be, for not just individuals, but entire families. 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.’
They added: ‘These are real people and real families. The way people have taken a lot of enjoyment at their expense, it’s hard to see.’
The woman behind the viral Coldplay kisscam video revealed to This Morning what it was like to capture the bombshell moment.
Grace Springer, the woman who filmed the incident, said: ‘I was hoping to see myself on the big screen – and I love to capture moments, so that’s why my phone was out in the first place.
‘When I filmed it, I didn’t think much of it. But of course everyone was kind of chattering [about the moment] – there were over 50,000 people at the concert so it was a hot topic.’
However, she conceded that, with full hindsight, she might have acted differently: ‘I never would have imagined this would have happened. If I had known, maybe I would have thought twice.’
At a gig later, held in the US state of Wisconsin, Chris Martin issued a joking warning to fans in the audience who may appear on Coldplay kisscams in the future.
‘We’d like to say hello to some of you in the crowd and put some of you on the big screen. How we’re going to do that is we’re going to use our cameras and put some of you on the big screen.’
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