The human resources executive who went viral after being caught in a romantic embrace at a Coldplay concert with her boss on a stadium “kiss cam,” Kristin Cabot, has broken her silence on the scandal that cost her career. 

Blaming the incident on a “bad decision” fueled by “a couple of High Noons,” Ms. Cabot opened up about the public fallout following the July 16 concert in Boston. Speaking to The New York Times, she denied having a sexual relationship with her boss, insisting their interaction was limited to that specific night.

“I made a bad decision and had a couple of High Noons and danced and acted inappropriately with my boss,” she told the paper, which headlined the article “The Ritual Shaming of the Woman at the Coldplay Concert.”  “And it’s not nothing. And I took accountability and I gave up my career for that. That’s the price I chose to pay.”

High Noon is a brand of hard seltzer made with vodka, fruit juice, and sparkling water and has 4.5 percent alcohol by volume.

Ms. Cabot, 53, and Andy Byron, the then-CEO of tech company Astronomer, were spotted by the stadium camera cuddling in the VIP section. Realizing they were being broadcast to thousands, the pair quickly separated and attempted to hide.

“Either they’re having an affair or they’re very shy,” Coldplay frontman Chris Martin joked to the crowd at the time.

Within hours, footage of the moment had garnered millions of views online. The viral nature of the incident ultimately forced both executives to resign from their positions.

The incident sparked intense public scrutiny and accusations of infidelity, as both parties were married at the time. However, Ms. Cabot explained that she and her husband, Andrew, were already separated. Her husband, who was also in the crowd that night on a date with another woman, confirmed they were no longer together. Ms. Cabot formally filed for divorce on August 13.

She noted that Mr. Byron was also going through a marital separation at the time. She admitted to having a “crush” on the CEO and had invited him to the concert to introduce him to friends.

“I definitely thought he was a good-looking guy and I had that thought of, ‘If I didn’t work here …’” she said. “I wanted to put a cute outfit on and go out and dance and laugh and have a great night. And that’s how it was tracking.”

She described the moments leading up to the kisscam shot as feeling anonymous in the massive crowd. “We were sitting in the back of the stadium at the opposite end from the stage in the pitch black just feeling totally anonymous in an arena of 50, 60,000 people,” she told the Times of London in a separate interview.

“We were just dancing, I’d had a few High Noons. Andy was standing behind me and we were dancing and I grabbed him. I didn’t hear the announcement that the Jumbotron was coming, so suddenly I’m just seeing us on screen,” she said.

Ms. Cabot described her immediate reaction to seeing herself on the giant screen as panic, first regarding her estranged husband, and then regarding her professional standing.

“My immediate reaction was, ‘Holy s–t, Andrew’s here,’” she said of her husband. “Then a beat later my mind turns to, ‘Oh God, Andy’s my effing boss,’ this is a bad look.”

Recognizing the gravity of the situation, Ms. Cabot and Mr. Byron decided to email the Astronomer board immediately after the concert. However, the video had already begun circulating. Both were placed on leave; Mr. Byron resigned weeks later, followed by Ms. Cabot.

Reflecting on the relationship dynamics, Ms. Cabot acknowledged the poor optics. “I’m the head of HR and he’s the CEO. It’s, like, so cliché and so bad,” she said. “We both just sat there with our heads in our hands, like, ‘What just happened?'”

The fallout has been severe. Ms. Cabot claims she has received upwards of 60 threats on her life and has been labeled “unemployable.” She expressed frustration over the disproportionate abuse she received compared to her male counterpart.

“I think as a woman, as women always do, I took the bulk of the abuse. People would say things like I was a ‘gold-digger’ or I ‘slept my way to the top,’ which just couldn’t be further from reality,” she said. “I worked so hard to dispel that all my life and here I was being accused of it.”

While she accepts responsibility for the mistake, she believes the reaction has been extreme.

“I want my kids to know that you can make mistakes, and you can really screw up. But you don’t have to be threatened to be killed for them,” she said. “It has been like a scarlet letter; people erased everything I’d accomplished in my life and achieved in my career. This can’t be the final word.”

Ms. Cabot said that Byron has been “nothing but a gentleman” but that they ceased communication in September to allow everyone to “move on and heal.” Mr. Byron reportedly remains with his wife, Megan, following the scandal.