Woman in Coldplay ‘Kiss Cam’ Controversy Says Former Boss Lied to Her: ‘We Have No Relationship Now’

Last summer, HR exec Kristin Cabot was seen in the arms of her then-CEO, Andy Byron. “He wasn’t the person he represented himself to be,” she says

Kristin Cabot has some sharp words for Andy Byron, her former boss with whom she was seen in an infamously viral moment during a Coldplay concert last summer.

Both promptly tried to hide from view, and Chris Martin joked from stage that they might be having an “affair.”

That fleeting incident, in which Cabot was caught on the so-called “kiss cam” while wrapped in Byron’s arms, upended both of their lives and careers and fueled incessant scrutiny, criticism and harassment, even death threats, Cabot has said.

At the time, Cabot was working as the head of human relations for Astronomer, a tech company. Byron was the CEO. They soon left their roles.

Both were married when they attended the concert but Cabot was already in the process of divorcing her estranged husband. She believed Byron was in a similar situation, she’s said.

Now in a new sit-down with Oprah Winfrey — after Cabot broke her silence in a pair of interviews late last year — she is sharing an update about her relationship with Byron.

Cabt said on The Oprah Podcast on Tuesday, March 17, that she “ended communication” with him last fall.

“There was a big miss on honesty and integrity,” she told Winfrey, adding, “He wasn’t the person he represented himself to be, to me — and lying is a non-negotiable for me.”

When Winfrey pressed on what Cabot meant, saying it sounded like she was suggesting Byron had lied to her about also being separated from his own wife, Cabot demurred.

She said it would be unfair for her to answer that as she knew what it felt like to have your private life in the spotlight.

“I wanna be really careful, because the world spoke for me and on my behalf, and I don’t wanna do that to somebody else and their family,” she said.

However, she said, “A lot of what was represented to me was not true.”

Kristin Cabot.Annie Hawkins

Speaking with Winfrey, Cabot reiterated what she has said before: that she thought Byron had split from his own wife when they attended the Coldplay concert together along with some of Cabot’s friends.

“Unequivocally,” she believed that at the time, she told Winfrey.

They kissed that night but hadn’t had a sexual relationship, Cabot told The New York Times last year. She told Winfrey that the concert was the first time they had any intimate physical contact.

Byron has never spoken publicly about their relationship and previously declined to comment to the Times when Cabot spoke with the paper.

He has not responded to multiple attempts by PEOPLE to reach him for comment.

After the Coldplay concert, Byron was seen publicly with his wife; both were wearing their wedding rings.

Speaking with Winfrey, Cabot said she felt stranded in the spotlight after the story broke.

“I was left holding the bag — and I don’t, you know, being the one that was attacked for this and he’s [Byron] remained silent, to me, that’s not a quality that I would look for in a friend or a partner or a boss,” she said. “So we have no relationship now.”

She told the Times last year that after the concert, she and Byron checked in on one another throughout the summer.

“Honestly, a lot of it was, like: ‘Hi. It’s 11 o’clock on a Tuesday. Any advice?’ ” she said.

In a separate interview last year, Cabot told the Times in the U.K. that their chats amounted to “crisis management advice.”

Then, in September, they met for the last time, she said.

Cabot told The New York Times that they decided “speaking with each other was going to make it too hard for everyone to move on and heal.”

Appearing on The Oprah Podcast, Cabot said she felt like she and Byron were treated differently by the public after being caught on the kiss cam.

As one example, she said, “Every single part of my physical appearance was picked apart.”

Cabot said repeatedly in her sit-down with Winfrey that she’d made a “mistake” but the worldwide reaction, both online and in real life, was disproportionately cruel.

“I own the poor decision that I made in that moment, and I’ve paid an unimaginable price for that,” she said.

Professionally, she said, Byron has fielded job offers while she’s had more challenges.

“I think he has the luxury of staying silent, and he can go back to work when he’s ready. I don’t. I feel — I have to remind myself I’m not on trial, but I have to, in order for me to get back on my feet, I have to come out and explain,” she said. “And I think that’s a stark difference between the man and the woman in this situation. I have to explain and explain and justify.”

Overall, the experience — and choosing to speak out — helped teach her about the importance of empathy in the digital age, especially when it’s too easy for a person to be reduced to a single moment and turned into a meme, she said.

Now she wants to share that with others.

“I can’t stay silent and accept what has happened,” Cabot told Winfrey. “And I do feel like it’s important that people understand the real story and also how harmful it is to just make assumptions and judge and and feed and fuel something that created this narrative.”