Did you know the woman in the Coldplay adultery scandal is married into a Boston Brahmin family?

Highlights:

• Kristin Cabot, HR chief at Astronomer, was caught on camera at a Coldplay concert in an intimate moment with CEO Andy Byron.
• Both Cabot and Byron are married to other people; the viral video led to Byron's resignation.
• Kristin is married to Andrew Cabot, heir to the Privateer Rum fortune and descendant of the historic Boston Brahmin Cabot family.
• The scandal has renewed interest in the Cabots and their place in Boston’s old-money aristocracy.

A viral moment at a Coldplay concert has unexpectedly revived public interest in one of America’s most private upper-class families: the Cabots. Kristin Cabot, the Chief People Officer at data software firm Astronomer, was seen in a close embrace with now-former CEO Andy Byron during the band’s performance at Gillette Stadium last week. The moment, caught on the stadium’s 'kiss cam', quickly went viral.

It wasn’t just the workplace affair that stunned viewers, both Cabot and Byron are married to others. But what’s fuelling deeper intrigue is Cabot’s family connection: she’s married to Andrew Cabot, a sixth-generation descendant of one of Boston’s most powerful and historically significant families, the Cabots, part of the elite class known as the Boston Brahmins.

Kristin Cabot’s elite Boston Brahmin ties resurface amid Coldplay cheating scandalLinkedIn

What does ‘Boston Brahmin’ mean and who are the Cabots?

The term Boston Brahmin refers to a small group of Anglo-American families who dominated Boston’s political, cultural, and economic life for centuries. Coined in 1861 by writer Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., the label likens these families to India’s Brahmins, evoking an image of cultural superiority and exclusivity.

The Cabots, alongside the Lowells, Lodges, and Forbes families, were at the heart of this upper crust. They amassed fortunes in the 18th and 19th centuries through shipping, manufacturing, and trade. Notably, some branches of these families were linked to industries now viewed with scrutiny, such as the opium and slave trades, a dark chapter in the legacy of old New England wealth.

A famous rhyme still recited in Boston schools captures their elite status:

“And this is good old Boston, the home of the bean and the cod / Where the Lowells talk only to Cabots, and the Cabots talk only to God.”

Today, the term survives more as a cultural reference, but the influence of these families still lingers quietly in American institutions.

American Antiquarian SocietyAmerican Experience

Andrew Cabot: The rum heir with a storied lineage

Kristin Cabot’s husband, Andrew Cabot, owns and runs Privateer Rum, a Massachusetts-based company with deep regional roots. He is a direct descendant of the original Andrew Cabot, an 18th-century merchant whose shipping and manufacturing empire helped build the family’s legacy.

The family’s wealth was partly driven by the production of carbon black, a crucial component in tyre manufacturing. According to a historical estimate, the Cabot fortune in 1972 was valued at around £100 million (₹850 crore), equivalent to over £1.5 billion (₹12,750 crore) today when adjusted for inflation.

The Cabots are known for keeping a low profile, preferring modesty over ostentation. Yet their mark on America remains visible in philanthropy, elite schools, and social traditions still observed among Boston’s old-money class.

Kristin is married to Andrew Cabot, the owner of Privateer RumX/@candybarr2009

The Coldplay ‘kiss cam’ fallout: Where things stand

Kristin Cabot’s brief on-screen appearance at the concert has triggered an internal investigation at Astronomer. CEO Andy Byron resigned shortly after the video went viral. Cabot has since gone on leave. Property records show that she and Andrew Cabot recently purchased a £1.7 million (₹14.5 crore) home in New Hampshire.

Both Kristin and Andrew have been previously married. Kristin’s divorce from her ex-husband Kenneth Thornby was finalised in 2022, while Byron’s wife, Megan Kerrigan, removed his surname from her Facebook profile shortly after the concert scandal erupted.

Viral video from Coldplay concert sparks internet speculation of workplace affair Reddit

While the story began as a celebrity-style office romance gone public, it has inadvertently peeled back the curtain on one of America’s most enduring, and largely hidden, power structures: the Boston Brahmins. It’s a reminder that even in 2025, family legacy still quietly shapes public perception and social influence in ways many assume have faded with time.