Kristin Cabot, the woman at the center of last summer’s Coldplay kiss cam controversy, opened up to Oprah Winfrey about the fallout that followed, taking direct aim at Gwyneth Paltrow and Ryan Reynolds for the announcement that she says added fuel to the fire at the worst possible time.
In one sitting The Oprah Podcast Published on Tuesday, March 17, Cabot revisited the incident in which she and her then-boss Andy Byron, both married at the time, were caught on camera together at a concert outside Boston last July.
When the pair tried to hide, Coldplay’s Chris Martin jokingly singled them out and the footage went viral almost instantly.
Byron was the CEO of the technology company Astronomer; Cabot was his head of human relations.
Both resigned shortly after.
Shortly after the incident, Astronomer released a tongue-in-cheek ad featuring Paltrow, Martin’s ex-wife, produced by Ryan Reynolds’ company Maximum Effort.
Cabot hasn’t forgiven either of them.
“That was really disappointing for me,” he told Winfrey.
“I felt like Gwyneth, someone whose company [Goop] is based or framed around the upliftment of women and the well-being of women…she doesn’t need the money.”
She was equally blunt about Reynolds.
“I don’t want to let Ryan Reynolds off the hook either. He produced the ad, created it, and his wife [Blake Lively] “just went through something really similar over the last year,” he said, referencing Lively’s legal dispute with her Finish with us director Justin Baldoni.
Winfrey revealed during the interview that she had spoken with Paltrow, who said she only participated because she had been told that Cabot and Byron had approved the ad.
They hadn’t.
What followed was, by her account, a sustained wave of harassment and death threats that fell disproportionately on her and not on Byron, who has since been seen publicly with his wife and has never spoken about the incident.
Cabot was especially hurt by the narrative that he had used his sexuality to advance his career.
“I had never been involved with anyone I had worked with before this story came to light,” she said. “I’ve been working since I was 13.”
Winfrey, to her credit, admitted that she had been among those who rushed to judge. “I was like everyone else,” he said.
“I figured you made a mistake and went out with your boss.”
At the end of the interview, he offered something more akin to an apology on behalf of the public. “I feel bad for us as human beings if that’s what we did to you.” Cabot simply responded, “Thank you.”
He clearly feels that his broader message needs to be heard.
“I’m heartbroken by how women treat other women,” she said. “I just think we’re holding each other back. Let’s stop.”
