The Oprah Podcast - Oprah and Kristin Cabot in an Exclusive Interview about the Coldplay Kiss Cam

Episode Date: March 17, 2026

In a worldwide exclusive interview, Oprah talks with Kristin Cabot, the woman caught on the Coldplay "kiss cam" in the arms of her boss and CEO of her company. The video became a phenomenon, instantly going viral around the globe with more than 300 billion views. While it became the most watched video of 2025, it also changed the course of Kristin Cabot’s life. In what she says will be her one and only on camera interview about the event, Kristin Cabot joins Oprah in front of an audience in New York City to reveal details about her life and relationships in the days leading up to the concert in Boston, and how her life was impacted afterwards. She tells Oprah her reaction to the 15 seconds that turned into an infinite number of memes and opened an unstoppable floodgate of what Kristin says is never-ending judgment, mocking, vitriol and even death threats. Kristin Cabot, who was the Chief People Officer for Astronomer at the time of the concert, tells Oprah the nature of her relationship with her then boss, former Astronomer CEO Andy Byron. Kristin Cabot says, “There is a different version of me than what people saw on a TikTok video.” Oprah and Kristin also hear from audience members about their reaction to the viral video and how they were quick to judge. 00:00:00 - Welcome Kristin Cabot of Coldplay kiss cam fame 00:03:20 - Why Kristin is sharing her story 00:04:51 - Kristin’s marital status 00:07:20 - The first night they touched 00:11:00 - Kristin and Andy were both separated 00:21:00 - Kristin acknowledges her mistake 00:24:40 - Realizing it was a huge news story 00:26:45 - Why this exploded 00:28:30 - What PR told her to do 00:30:20 - What upset Kristin the most 00:32:00 - What Kristin represents for other women 00:33:00 - Andy was treated differently 00:35:15 - How her kids are affected 00:38:30 - When death threats started 00:40:15 - Treatment by other women 00:43:30 - Explaining to her kids 00:44:37 - Does she talk to Andy? 00:45:50 - Andy’s lack of public statement 00:47:50 - What breaks Kristin’s heart 00:48:20 - Kristin’s reaction to death threats 00:50:30 - Kristin and Andy’s next steps 00:52:45 - What Kristin wants people to know 00:54:20 - Gwenyth Paltrow’s message to Kristin 00:57:00 - Woman admits to judging Kristin Follow Oprah Winfrey on Social: https://www.instagram.com/oprahpodcast/ https://www.facebook.com/oprahwinfrey/ Listen to the full podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0tEVrfNp92a7lbjDe6GMLI https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-oprah-podcast/id1782960381 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Either they're having an affair or get this very shot. This would be the only on-camera interview that you're planning to give. Why did you decide to be here today? So Coldplay's Kiss Cam just broke the internet. You've seen this video, right? One thousand times. Yes, I think everyone has seen it. Take us back to the night of the Coldplay concert.

Growing Fallout from the Kiss Cam moments seen around the world. Sparking dozens of memes and videos. It is crazy. how big this is. That was the first time you all had physically touched. That's what you said to us earlier. You hadn't even touched. This has captured my imagination so much.

I have been watching it, like if it was porn, over and over and over again. I did not know the crucial part of that story that was missing from all of the TikToks. I'm gonna let you share that. Sometimes people call just to harass her and call her a home wrecker. Do you still talk to Andy Byron,

your former boss? Death threats. Who's sending me? death threats over this. Why do you think there was so much hate? Hi there, and thank you for joining me here on the Oprah podcast. My guest today is Kristen Cabot. And while you may not recognize her name,

I am guessing that you will recognize her face from the most viewed video of 2025, the so-called Coldplay Kiss Cam. Either they're having an affair or they're just very shy. has been watched 300 billion times. Doesn't that shock you? It shocked me and when I was told, your mouth is open, that's exactly what I did.

When I was told it's been watched 300 billion times, I said, how is that possible? There's only 8 billion of us on the planet. Well, it's because people watch it over and over and over. It was made into countless TikTok memes and recreated at sporting events and concerts around the world. And in just 15 seconds of footage, Kristen found herself in the eye of a public spectacle,

a storm that swept the internet in a matter of hours. And she is the woman seen on the Jumbotron at a Coldplay concert in Boston in the arms of her boss and CEO, Andy Byron. And Kristen was the head of HR. And for Kristen, those 15, 15 viral seconds, really, 15 viral seconds opened up an unstoppable floodgate of people mocking her, vitriol, and even death threats. And this past December, she first broke her silence to Lisa Miller of the New York Times, and the headline read the ritual shaming of the woman at the Coldplay concert.

Kristen Cabot, welcome. Thank you for agreeing to do this. Thank you. Thank you for great much. Thank you. So after reading Lisa Miller's article, I asked my team to reach out to you and you were hesitant, but then we had a conversation on Zoom and you decided that this would be the only on-camera interview that you're planning to give. Why did you decide to be here today? Yeah, first I want to thank you for having me. I was reluctant to come, but I'm really grateful to be here. For me, my mom always taught us silence as acceptance. I think I mentioned that in the article.

And for me and my family, what happened was not okay. And I felt like by remaining silent, it was somehow accepting what had happened. And I really felt also there's a lot of people out there that experience something similar that didn't either have the strength to come forward or were too traumatized or lost their lives due to some of the things I experienced.

And I feel a sense of responsibility for those people to speak out and share what it's really like when people carelessly comment, forward, click, like, and the damage that it can really do. So, yes, you and I spoke on Zoom. I said, first of all, before the story and the times,

I didn't know the story. I was like everybody else. I didn't watch it hundreds of times or even more than once, but I made the judgment that you had made a mistake and you're out with your boss. and I did not know the crucial part of that story

that was left missing from all of the TikToks that were shared. I'm going to let you share that. So take us back to the night of the Coldplay concert and the decision to go to the Coldplay concert. Yeah, that's a great question. So I had been going through, I'll go a little bit before that, if that's okay. So maybe four or six weeks prior to the Coldplay concert, my husband and I had decided to separate and were living apart and planning for a divorce.

And Andy Byron, my boss at the time, he and I had a very close working relationship for anyone that's worked in tech and a high-growth startup. They'll understand that the chief people officer and the CEO are partners. We work side by side around the clock. It was a high-growth startup that was growing at 100% year-over-year. We were hiring like crazy. And so we were really in it to get. and spent a ton of time together.

And it was, yeah, it was about around the time that Andrew and I, my husband had separated and Andy, the same name, so forgive me, to try to keep up here. Andy and I had gone out to grab sandwiches during the workday. And he asked me, I seemed a little off. And he just said, what's going on? And I said, well, my husband and I are separating and planning a divorce. And he immediately let me know that he was in the exact same situation, that he and his wife were living apart. They were planning for divorce and it had been many years in the making.

So that became like a really instant kind of point of connection for us. And over the next, you know, few weeks to month, that was a place that was really great for me to be able to go to talk about what I was going through and I was a good safe space for him. And I think probably my friends. Did you both talk about the way it was like going through this separation? That was where we started to build a bit of a stronger connection. And I, you know, I was really surprised when he told me I just, we didn't talk a lot about our personal lives prior to that, so I didn't expect to hear that from him. Right. He had been married a long time, so I just assumed all was well.

So we, leading up to the concert, like at that point, we started talking a lot more about personal things and kids and how it's going and all of that. In addition to the busy and frequent work conversations. Were you having more lunches? Was it becoming? Yeah, yes, we were. It just felt like a really familiar, like, safe place to talk about what was. going on. And it's so much easier when someone else is in it in the same experience. We could share that. So we developed feelings for each other during that time. Okay, because I'm, yeah, were you attracted to

each other? Yes. Yes. Absolutely. And that's why like, you know, when people would say, oh, they didn't look like friends on the video, like that was the culmination point of feelings that had developed over the course of, you know, four to six weeks, I would say. Okay. So when we spoke over Zoom, you said that was the first time you all had done anything publicly. That's the first time you'd actually shared anything. kind of physical touch. Physical touch. Yeah. Yeah.

At the Coldplay concert, the first time I touched you. Yes. I'll explain. I'll explain. I'm here to share what really happened. Okay. I know. I know.

There's a lot of context there. So I had friends that had gotten tickets to the show. They asked if I wanted to join. They had two extra seats. I never go out. So it's kind of a joke amongst my friends, let alone on a weeknight. I'm usually with my kids or I'm working. And I had just gone through a process.

pretty tough period. And I was like, you know what? It's summer. It's a weeknight. Like, I'm going to go. I'm going to go. I loved cold play. But that kind of got ruined for me. I'll be honest. Like, not the biggest fan anymore. But it was, it was like such a no-brainer to invite Andy. We just, we, when I say we would talk like 10 times a day, that was even before this connection started. It's just the nature of our job and our working relationship. Plus, we were, you know, enjoying spending time together. And it just seemed like we've been. I just want to be clear what time had you spent together before. Lunches, we would, lunches at work. So everything had been business up until the Coldplay concert?

Yes, yes. Yes. Whoa. Absolutely. Though, we'd had a lot of personal conversation and had acknowledged that we had feelings for each other. Okay. Also, it was becoming apparent to me that we were putting ourselves in a situation where it was going to get risky from a work standpoint. I mean, I reported to him.

It's, you know, it's my role was to actually, like, be aware of those things happening at work and flagging when it might cause a problem. So was there, I always say that there's a whisper and then there's a pebble and a brick and a brick, was there a little whisper saying we should tell somebody or we should? It was more than a whisper. It was like a real conversation where we sat down and said, like, we have to figure out a plan for this because these feelings were real. This wasn't like a fleeting thing. And we decided that we put kind of a plan together, but we wanted to propose to our board of directors that would change the reporting structure. Didn't you tell me that you were thinking about going to the board?

Are you all we going to go to the board? We ironically met probably five or six days before the concert. We had a lunch that was a lengthy lunch to talk about this and to make a plan. The plan was to go to the board. And let them know that we had developed feelings for one another and that we wanted to change. And that it was consensual. It was consensual, which is an important point, 100%. And we wanted to propose a plan for what might work to make

you know, take this reporting line out of the equation. Meaning you reporting to him? Meaning no longer reporting to him, but perhaps reporting to one of our investors, something like that. All right, that makes sense. It seemed like it made sense at the time. Yeah.

It felt like the right thing to do. And yeah, and then I got the invitation to Coldplay. I invited him to come. It was sort of a non-decision. It was just kind of like, hey, we got tickets. Do you want to come? And he's like, great, let's go.

And I thought, you know, we've kept it. Why didn't you ask one of your girlfriends? Well, I was already going. my two best friends who may or may not be in the audience right now, one of them was already going and the other one is the one that offered me the tickets. Okay, yeah. And it just, he's the one I wanted to hang out with. We had a blast together.

Okay, okay. And we'd been keeping it together. Like, I could go to work and be normal. I can go to a concert and be normal until I couldn't, obviously. But it was just, it seemed like a fun plan. Got it. So he said yes, obviously. And this was the first time.

time, you all had done something socially other than meeting for lunches and discussing business. For grabbing drinks after work with colleagues and things like that. Okay. So you get to the concert and what happened? Well, I was walking into the concert and my daughter messaged me and said, oh, it's so great that you and Andrew are both at Coldplay. So she let me know that my estranged husband was also at the concert. So I think it's very important. This is what I did not know before the story. And y'all can obviously, didn't know. either, that she was separated from her husband and that her boss was also separated or said he was separated from his wife. Did you all know that? Okay. All right. Or that her husband was there.

This is the thing. So you get texted from one of your children. Yeah, my daughter was like, this is so fun. Great. I was like, and in my mind, I thought, well, that's, is this going to be weird if he sees me with Andy? Or you run into him? Yeah, if I run into him. But then I was like, I'm in Gillette Stadium. There's 55,000 people here. I'm probably not going to run into him.

But it doesn't matter. I mean, that would have been better at the end of the day if I just run into him. But it's, you know, he knows how closely Andy and I work together. He knows we social, got lunches and got drinks. It was fine. So he knew that there was a relationship there. Yes. He just, he knows the nature of my work and the way,

I've shared desks with the CEOs I've worked with. Like, it's just a very close-through. And so it didn't matter to me anymore. Okay, I got to get to the moment. You got to get there. You all hadn't touched. That's what you said to us earlier. You hadn't even touched.

Well, we did that evening before we got, I mean, we started to touch before it was on camera. But that, yeah. Okay. But that was the first time you all had physically touched each other. Correct. Okay. Other than like a, you know, tap, you know, when you're chatting with someone and you. Okay.

Yeah. So what made you do it then? I had a real. big crush on him, Oprah. Yeah. And so did he. I mean, we, these, these were, like, really incredible feelings.

And I don't know women that could relate to this, but I had been going through a really tough time. I was coming out of a separation, and it felt really good to get attention and affection from an awesome man, you know, that it felt good. You're leaving out a key point here that you shared with me on the Zoom, high noons. I would love to talk about the high news.

Yeah. Can we, can we take a moment? Look at Gail going, what is that? Gail has never drank anything other than... I like a good Shirley-Tell. She likes a good Shirley-Till. So she just looked... I saw you.

What is a high-noons? I want to talk about the high-noons, because that became a big, big topic on the Internet. For some reason, I told Lisa Miller in the New York Times article that, you know, I had a couple of high-noons, and we were dancing, and we got swept up in the moment. All you need is a couple. I only had two.

So... Well, I mean, a two that make you feel like... Well, that's why... Gail used to ask me all the time. I see you getting yourself. all liquored up. What does it do for you? I'm not getting liquored up, Gail. It's just a vodka tonic. Okay? So it does make you, Gail. Alcohol makes you

feel a little looser. Frisky. Frisky. Not even frisky. It's just a little looser. A little looser. And my only point in mentioning it to Lisa Miller, had I known what would have happened that, you know, because suddenly I'm blaming it on alcohol and suddenly none of that is true. I simply mentioned it to like set the top of the top of hone of the vibe. Yes, I got it. You're at a concert at summer, a couple

high noons, you're dancing, you're having fun. Everybody, maybe except for you, Gail, has done that and knows what I mean. Like, it's a good,

it's just an easy, like a fun feeling. And that's, that was the vibe that we had. And that's why I shared it. And by the way, I think, well, it said,

do you have a lemonade? Yeah. And could you add a dash or cranberry juice? Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. So a couple of high noons,

you're feeling really great and you're at a concert and you love cold play and everything's going It felt really good. Yes. It also, I should note, it felt really anonymous. And I feel like I need to explain that too

because it didn't look that way on the video. Where we were was at the complete opposite end of Gillette Stadium from the stage. We were in an area called, I think it was called the Pavilion, but it's a big general, it's a sectioned off area where there's no seats, it's general admission in this section, and it holds about 250 people. So we were in that area,

and we were kind of up at the front of the near the railing, but we were with a group and with friends. So we were dancing and talking and it was really dark. And it just, we got very swept up and it didn't feel in any way that we were risking being. And it wasn't even calculated

where we thought to ourselves like, oh, no one's looking. Let's like put our hands on each other. It wasn't that. It was just, it just was a natural thing. Okay, so let's go to that moment that we have all seen. Have you all seen it?

Okay, let's go to the moment we've all seen. So you're swaying, I don't even remember. remember the song, do you? Yes. What was the song? Yellow.

Okay. That's Gail. I love yellow. I used to love yellow, Gail. Yeah. After a quick break, Kristen Cabot takes us back to that moment. She saw herself on the Jombotron, and what immediately went through her mind

during the minutes and hours afterwards. That's next. Uh, where are my gloves? Come on, heat. Any day now? Winter is hard, but your groceries don't have to be. This winter, stay warm. Tap the banner to order your groceries online at voila.ca.

Enjoy in-store prices without leaving your home. You'll find the same regular prices online as in-store. Many promotions are available both in-store and online, though some may vary. Welcome back to the Oprah podcast and my exclusive interview with Kristen Cabot. The woman caught on the co-play Kiss Cam with her then-Boss and CEO, a viral video that's been seen around the globe more than 300 billion times. This is her one and only on-camera interview, she says. So let's get back to it.

So you're swaying to the song and then you suddenly see yourself on the Jombatron. You turned around. He ducked. Okay, so you see yourself. Take us to that moment. Yeah. That was a moment of total horror. is really the best way I can describe it.

My immediate thought was, oh, my God, my husband's in the building. He was there with someone else, and I knew that, and that was great and fine. But he and I were, in the midst of our separation, incredibly amicable. Like, to this day, he's been one of the biggest supporters of me through all of this. He's an incredible man.

And the last thing I wanted to do was embarrass him. And that was my first thought when I saw myself in that moment. Isn't there an instance when you're looking at yourself on the Jambotron, because I remember Gail and I had gone to an event, Gail Maria Shriver and I, and for the Pope, and there's Gail on the,

remember you saw yourself and you said, who said red-haired woman? And I go, that red-haired black woman, that would be you. And so, is there a moment when you say to yourself, oh my God, that's me? Yes.

Yeah, there was like a split second where it was like almost, I mean, to me, it's like surreal. I can't even really remember, but I do remember looking and being like, oh, my God. Like, I said worse than that. I made in my head. But my initial thought was, oh, my God, Andrew's here.

And my second thought was, oh, my God, I'm in the arms of my boss, and I'm the head of HR. Like, this is a really bad look. Yeah. Everybody assumed I was horrified because it meant somehow I got busted having an affair. Like, that is not what was happening. I felt like those two reasons were big enough for me in that moment to be really horrified.

Did you even hear what was said later? No, so I wanted to share that, too. So we were all, like, dancing. And you know, when there's music playing, and you're talking, you're kind of whispering in people's ears or yelling in their ears. We were talking with my friends, too, and we didn't hear Chris Martin say,

we're going to pan the audience. Like, we never heard him warned that he was doing that, and we never heard him say, they must be shy or they're having an affair. I had no idea he said that until, like, days later. Or the next day. I don't remember from, it was a blur after that night. But I didn't know that at all.

I whipped around, like Oprah, if we were at a Celtics game and we got put on the Jumbotron, I'm going to whip around. I'm not a Jumbotron girl, even on my best days. It's not my thing. So I would have probably done some version of that. But in that moment, I was just horrified at... And your first thought was Andrew, your husband. And my job.

And your job, yeah. And irony of the whole thing or the naivete of the whole thing is the entire ride home, we were in an SUV, a group of us. All I was worried about was Andrew. I kept saying maybe he left early. Maybe he didn't see it. That was what I thought was the biggest problem I had on my hands. Why were you worried if you were already separated?

Because we were in the middle of going through our divorce planning, and it was going really, we were doing it in a really amicable way. He was there with somebody. He was there with somebody, but I didn't. Andrew comes from an incredibly private family in the Boston area, and I just knew in my head, like, the public embarrassment is not something that would have gone over well. Okay, so your first thought was Andrew. What did you all do immediately afterwards?

So you turned around and Andy Byron ducked, your boss at the time, ducked. Yes. And then did you all immediately leave the Gillette? So he and I left the area, the general admission area behind that had indoors, had like a bar area and some like tables set up. Did you leave with your friends or did you? No, he and I left the standing room area, went through the doors and sat down at one of those tables and we're just like, what just happened?

okay, what is going to, what could this, what is going to happen? Or what, what happened? Yeah. I don't know how to explain. And that's when I was like, oh, my God, Andrew, you know, he was going through his head of what he was worried about. I was thinking about my stuff. And then it was really towards the end of the concert. And about the end of that song, I think my friends came through the door.

And they're like, let's just get out of here. And so we all left the stadium. And what were they thinking? They were just like, oh, my God, I cannot believe it. This is like getting struck by lightning. How did this even, how on earth, and I can't believe that just happened to you. That's like the worst luck. And then we were in the elevator heading down, and a woman in the elevator was like, wait, was that you on the jumbo-tron?

And I was like, no. And then my friend Elena looked at me and was like, is that what we're saying? I see like, are we, we're saying, no, that wasn't you? Like, should we huddle up on this? But we just didn't know what, we had no concept that this was going to. Okay, so you were worried about your husband who you're separating from. Yes. woman that he's there.

I wasn't really worried about that. I mean, I was just, I didn't want to embarrass him, and I didn't want to derail the emical. You're worried about your husband that you are now separated from. Was he worried about anything? No. Do you mean? Andy, Andy, Byron.

Oh, yes. What did he say he was worried about? I mean, I don't want to speak for him, but I think, you know, we live in that area. I think, you know, he's going through his own separation and divorce. I think he's not looking to embarrass. And he's your boss? That was the other big. I mean, it's really not, it's really bad in our roles to have been caught in that position.

And that was, you know, we do live in the area. The company was based in New York, but we've both had 25 or so 30 years in our career in that area. The one thing I want to share with you all, when I had, I've had only one other conversation with Kristen on Zoom prior to this interview a couple months ago now. And the one thing that I appreciated in that conversation, which you can share. here is that you kept saying, I made a mistake. It was a mistake. I shouldn't have been out with my boss, but it wasn't a mistake that I deserved to die for. It wasn't a mistake that I deserved to have people coming up to me on the street and saying I should die because of it. It wasn't a mistake that deserved people threatening me and threatening my children. It was a mistake.

So that's what you told me. Do you still feel that? It was a mistake. Absolutely. It was a mistake. Absolutely. And I've been telling anyone that will listen. I own the poor decision that I made in that moment. And I've paid an unimaginable price for that. I also, you know, that was why I chose to leave my job because I think I put the company in a position, given how viral and toxic, this became a position you can't come back from. Okay, so let's go back to it. So just walk us through it. You all leave. You're like what just happened. And then what happened? So we all piled into a SUV we had all ridden together and there were six of us. And, I mean, it was a pretty tense car ride home, but it was, I was hand-wringing over my, Andrew C. I mean, it was just ridiculous looking at it now, what I was most worried about. Andy was pretty quiet in the car. Yeah.

And our friends, nobody, nobody thought, it was like, oh, that was such bad luck. Like, hopefully no one really saw you. Okay, so tell everybody, you get home and you. thinking we're going to tell the board tomorrow. We're going to go to the board and tell them. Yes. So you all, didn't you come up with it? He came to my apartment.

Yes. And he did. Yes. And we were like, we have to come up with a statement. We have to talk to the board immediately. Yeah. Did you come up with a statement? No, we drafted an email to together to send the board from both of us to say we need

to speak very first thing in the morning. Most of our board, actually all but one run the West Coast. So we wanted to make sure they will. Drafted an email to send. to send to the board. That's right. And then you go home and you... Go to sleep.

Go to sleep. Again, not... Really. Thinking, yeah. And in the middle of the night... In the middle of the night, I got a message from Andrew, my husband.

I feel like I need to keep qualifying because they're the same name. Yes, of course, yeah. And he sent me a text with a snapshot of a TikTok of the TikTok video and said, you need to...

I don't remember the exact words, but it was like, there's a, like, Houston, we have a problem here. You know, and he really wanted to get to me so I could get to my kids who were teenagers, before they, who were teenagers, before they woke up and got on their phones and saw it. Right. So your teenagers are not his children.

Correct. Yes, but your children have a great relationship with him. Incredible. Yeah, because you all had been married. How many years? Less than two years. Okay. We met during COVID, and he immediately built an incredible bomb with my kids.

And they're very close still today. Okay. So how did you find out that the video had blown up the Internet? I'm trying to remember. It's like such a wild. That next day was so hard. So when Andrew calls you and says, we have,

there's like, this is happening on TikTok, I'm not on any of those apps. So I didn't see it. I couldn't see it personally. I had no sense for it initially. Yeah. Personally,

I don't, I've never had TikTok or anything like that. But he let me know. But you didn't know what it was. Yeah. And then in the morning by seven or eight a.m. Can you all imagine this? Can you imagine?

It just, my phone started, you know, a lot of phone calls started. started coming in from my friends. All my close friends were just like, you know, this is something's going on here. And it, I wish I could remember how long it took

from being kind of a problem to like realizing it was. No need to hit send to the board. Yeah. Well, we did. We did have a call with the board immediately. And they had already heard about it at that point. But we had, they were actually really understanding and we had a really good conversation about it.

And they were very, um. He resigned. He hadn't resigned yet. He did that a few days later. Okay. And then did they offer you, they wanted you to stay? Yes. Yes.

They wanted you to stay. Yes. How were you going to stay? Well, that's the problem. I mean, that was the conversation I had with them. Had it not gone so viral and gotten so toxic, I would have gone back in and taken the punch and stood up in front of the company and said, you know, I'm a human. I made a really poor choice, but we're building something incredible and like, let's get back to it.

And hope that they would be okay with that. But I had it, that was not an option. I did not feel like I could go in and say, hey, everybody, like, do as I say, but not as I do. And I felt like it would put everybody in such a bad situation. And it just wasn't fair to the employees. I appreciated that the board was behind me. And I appreciated, and they did go through an HR investigation and it yielded nothing. And I appreciated that, at least internally there, I got that support.

Yeah. But it wasn't viable. It wasn't fair to ask the employees. So why do you think that this was? went off like a, like a bomb. Was it Chris Martin's comments in that moment that maybe you were having an affair? Was it the fact that Andy Byron Duck, or that you turned around? Was it that he was the CEO and you're the head of HR? What is it? I think it was a, I thought a lot about that. I think it was a whole combination. I was a combination of all of those things. I felt in the initial moments,

I'm sure it was funny to people. You know, I can appreciate that. I've certain. I certainly seen funny things online and forwarded them around and clicked on them. I just don't think people think, people really stop and think about there's real humans behind this. There's a life there. And it is incredibly destructive. And I, you know, listen, I've seen funny things and sent him around too, probably not giving it a ton of thought before this happened. I'm very thinking very differently now than I was. But I think people thought it was funny.

I think our world is, you know, news is a really sad thing to watch. I think we are constantly inundated with bad news. Yeah, I've heard some people say that that video seen 300 billion times by only 8 billion people on the planet was the thing that united people, that people were united in their judgment. And I feel bad for us as human beings, that that's what we did to you.

Thank you. We were all united in the judgment of whatever it is you were doing, you shouldn't have been doing it, and we could all actually agree on that without knowing the story behind the story. And I heard that there were people that advise you that everything would blow over in three days. Who the hell told you that?

I wish I could say, because you'd all be shocked, but it's a very prominent person in public relations that I spoke to that said to me, you have triggered such an avalanche of hate for whatever reason that people are not going to be open to hearing from you right now. They're not going to believe what you say. your best bet is to stay quiet, keep your head down, and then let some time pass and then speak up. And this is not my world. I don't know. And I really believed what she said. And I guess it makes

sense. I could tell that there was so much hate. I thought maybe this, maybe that is better. Right after this break, Kristen Cabot explains why she thinks she's been the target of so much hate and vitriol and why her former boss, Andy Byron, was not. That's next. Welcome back, listeners. It seems everybody on the planet watched that viral cold play kiss cam video. Kristen Cabot, the woman in that video, agreed to talk with me here on the Oprah podcast

for what she says is her one and only interview. Let's get back to our exclusive conversation. Why do you think there was so much hate? That's been one of the hardest things for me to reconcile because nobody knows me. Nobody that judged this knows me. So it wasn't me. You know, it was, I think it was,

listen, I think a lot of people have had not great interactions with HR. I think there's some piece of it that's like stick it to the HR lady. Like, I get it. That's kind of funny. I think, you know, it was incredibly cliche on every level, like the CEO and the chief people officer. And I think, you know, I don't know. I just think people hurt people, hurt people.

And I think. Well, there's a lot of hurt people. people 300 billion times. So the New York Times wrote that she's been called, the quote, she's been called a slut, a homewrecker, a gold digger, a sidepiece, the usual tags for shaming women is what Lisa Miller wrote. And you told me that you believe that women are apt to quote, eat each other alive. And that most of your criticism has actually come from other women, that other women are the only ones who dare to come up to your face and say horrible things. That's right. Yeah. That's right. That was for me, I think one of, other than obviously my

concern for what my kids experienced, that was to me the most upsetting piece of all of this was I had no idea how unwell we are as a gender still. I think I was living in a really lovely, naive bubble in some ways where I have surrounded myself with and am so fortunate to be surrounded by incredible women that support have supported me you know through thick and thin I do the same for them and I I I don't know women that tear each other down that's not been my own experience and at work like I've been really intentional about the women that work with and for me like bringing them along in their career giving opportunity mentoring and helping them it's just not it was it was such a shock to me I think I was told

that 90% of the online comments and hate came from women. Every single interaction I had in person and there were many were all women, like you said. You know, since we had our conversation, I was thinking about this, and I say this, you know, not just because Gail is here, but it's pretty publicly known that Gail went through a divorce

and her husband had an affair, and Gail always says that there's a lot of members of that club. There's a lot of women who are a part of that club of who with partners who betrayed them with other women and I think that for a lot of women you became the face of that

do you all think that that you became the face of the woman who took my husband the woman who would take my husband the woman who that's where the hate is coming from and I also think that if you look differently you would have probably had another outcome you know I think you are the blonde ideal, the girl next door, all of that.

Am I being truthful here or what? I think it's the whole package. It's not one thing, it's everything. I do think there was something people attached to me that triggered things within themselves. I don't think, you know, now that I say here, I don't think, they don't know me, it can't really be me, but it's something I represent and I...

Yeah. Yeah, I think that, you know, I think about my own triggers and things that are unheeled inside of me. I try to think of, like, what makes me feel a certain way or what it's my own fears. that are not quite healed, I think, when I... So the question is, did he get the same kind of vitriol, Andy Byron, your boss?

Were people coming up to him? No. Not at all. Attacking him, attacking his children? No. Yeah. And, I mean, just thinking about, you know, starting from the very beginning,

I was every single part of my physical appearance was picked apart. There were stories written about jewelry I was wearing and who bought it for me and how much it cost when one of my best friends is a jewelry designer, and I've bought everything for myself, that she made me. And it's, you know, my hairdresser or somebody found, and that turned into a whole thing where she was dragged

for giving me crappy highlights. And she got lit up for that. And just everything about how I looked, to how I was dressed, to how I behaved, to, you know, sleeping my way to the top, to the gold digger, to all the words that Lisa used, the husband's stealer, which, by the way, that expression really bugs me. And I'm not trying to make light, obviously, of adultery. It's not that, but this notion of women stealing men,

like I would walk in and duct tape and zip tie a guy and like unwittingly drag him out and steal. Like the man has no role in this. This is, you know, and for me, like, I was the face of all of this. There was no one talking about Andy's hair, shirt, watch. There was no one questioning, I mean, maybe anyone here can correct me. I never read or heard anything about, wow, did he become a CEO by sleeping his way to the top?

No. And that's all anyone would say about me. It was unfathomable that I might have achieved and worked and hustled and built a career I'm incredibly proud of. That was not on the table. Your best friend I heard told you that these people hated you before they even knew anything about you. Do you think that's true?

What do you think that is? Yeah, I think that's what you touched on a few minutes ago. I think it's, I represented something for people that they were afraid of in that moment. And I can have empathy for that. I think if you're going to snap to a judgment, you're going to have, I don't have empathy for people snapping to a quick judgment and just assuming and using zero critical thinking skills, but I do have empathy or I do have understanding for why that would trigger people. So I'm trying to...

Because you look like you look. No, because I think, you know, I'm... The way the story was narrated for me without my input was I'm, you know, having an affair with my boss and we're running around and we're on the company credit card, buying to... It's probably what a lot of women worry about when their husbands are out on the... You know, I get that. I can understand that. Yeah.

So you share custody of your two children with your first husband. And how has this impacted your children? That's the, this is the tough one. It was a nightmare. How old are your kids? They're almost 15 and almost 17. So they're at an age where everything, you know, so they were 14 and 16 when this happened.

We're still in it. They're really, they're doing really well. Tell us about the place you went someplace, you went someplace and your daughter said, mom, can we just leave? Yeah, we were at the local pool. This was a few weeks after I decided it was probably in later August when I felt like safe to, I tried to going out, you know,

trying to go out. My daughter and I went to the pool, big hat glasses, all the things. And a woman at the pool started taking our picture in a really not subtle way. And my daughter just, she just lost it. And she's like, we need to just leave. And I was like, I'm so sorry. And I didn't, you know, I was not in a position. That's funny, the version of me before this concert,

I would have marched right up to her and grab her. I mean, I'm not a shrinking violet, but I became, you know, a very different version of myself. And I just, we packed up and left. Do you think that you were taking on the guilt and shame that other people were trying to put on you? Yes and no. I felt tremendous guilt for the effect it was having on my family

and I felt responsible for that. But I did not, I knew what really happened. and I didn't feel shame for something I didn't do. I wasn't questioning my, I knew the mistake I made. I was really clear on what that was. But I was also really clear that it doesn't deserve the treatment that I got. It doesn't deserve, you know, being made to feel that you should die. Can you share with us what those first hours, days, and then weeks were like?

I mean, how low did you go? I mean, yeah, those, it was, dark. The first weekend after the concert, I rented an Airbnb and went up to the mountains in New Hampshire with my dog thinking I was just going to let it blow over and come back. I really didn't understand because I cut off all access to the internet and social media and everything. I went away thinking, oh, it was sort of like the beginning of COVID when you're like, we'll close the office for the week and we'll see in a week and then you're like, see you in two years. It was sort of like that. I thought I'll just go disappear for the weekend.

But when I came back... I did. I was like, I'm just going to regroup and relax and not looking at it. And you thought it would blow over in a few days, as you had been told. As I'd been told. Yes. That definitely didn't happen. But I came back to my house that was a place that was really like my safe space, as your home typically is. And it became a place that was as unsafe as any place could be.

Because a local radio station gave out my address. on the air. And for whatever reason, the whole world has access to my phone number. And I guess I don't know how people do that. But so from that day

I returned, there was, well, there was paparazzi there for weeks. They wouldn't leave. There was, I had people trespassing and looking in my windows.

We had people doing drive-bys and yelling and honking. We had my phone. With your children home. Yes, with my children home. My phone was ringing around the clock and just vile. text messages and voicemails. That's probably a couple days in when the death threats started,

but they were also just perverse, disgusting messages. I got emails constantly. Were you afraid? Were you scared? Yeah, I was really terrified. And your children were really scared because your children overheard you speaking to your mom? They did and they heard one of the death threats. My kids asked me not to spend too much time talking about them today, but I'm, I'm comfortable talking about portions of it, and that's one of them. They were terrified for me. They're really protective of me, but they were also really scared for what this meant for all of us.

We're not used to having, we're really private. When your kids are hearing that you're getting death threats, kids think we're going to lose our mom. That's what kids think. Yeah. That's exactly what happened. Kids think we're going to lose our mom. Yeah.

Then they have to now be afraid for you. That's right. Yeah. That's right. And, you know, I've been a single mom for a while, and they, I think, already lean in to taking care of me more than I'd like them to do with their age. Like, I've got it, you know, until this, I'm good,

but they've always been, they're really, like, sweet and, I don't know, empathic people. So they really, like, they're always kind of keeping an eye and making sure I'm okay. So this kind of elevated all of that. You know, in all this, I mean, I think a lot of people at this point have experienced online vitriol or people saying horrible things. Yeah. And sometimes there's something to just,

is said and it just cuts you. Yeah. Especially if it's untrue. Did you have one of those moments where something was said and it just like brought you to your knees or made you not want to get out of bed? Yeah, it was and there's actually a few. But the one that just came to mind first was the piece around sleeping my way to the top at work. I've spent, I've worked in advertising and technology, which are really male-dominated industries. And I've spent my entire career fighting against the stereotype.

of, you know, I must be sleeping with someone or, you know, there's, and I, I've been so intentional about how I move through my work life. I've never been involved with anyone I've worked with before. I have been working since I was 13 and, you know, my mom had us out really legally working early on and I never stopped. And my career was my identity for better or worse. And this has been a wake-up call around that. But that was my, I had tremendous pride in what I had Bill, I love what I do. And for that to be a whole entire narrative to be written that takes that away from me felt it just gutted me in a way that I can't explain.

So it was really that one. I think, you know, obviously being called all these horrible names is it hurts. I have a friend that said to me recently, like, why would you take criticism from people you would not take advice from? and that really hit home for me. And I thought about it. I'm like, it's a great point. I don't, but I did.

It's a great point, but when you're in the middle of it, it's hard to feel that. That's right. And it hurts. Like, you know, and it's easy to say, oh, ignore the trolls or ignore the,

but it's really hard, you know, I mean, it's really hard to ignore that. And it gets really personal. Yeah. Where's your, did you have family that were there for you? Yeah, my family's incredible.

And I just, you know, you asked earlier, like, how low did it get? And, and I do need to say, that if I didn't have the family that I have and the friends that just wrapped a big warm blanket around me, I don't know that I would have made it through this.

And had I been the 25-year-old version of myself, I would not be sitting here. There's no way. Yeah. It was really horrific. Because, yeah, when you hear the number, I think it was you who told me the $300 billion. When you hear the $300, how is that even possible?

And by the way, that doesn't include social media. That's just the Internet. How wild did it get on? I don't know how wild it got on social, but I think it was wilder than just like, the, you know, different tabloid websites. But that 300 billion is on the websites alone. Yeah.

It's really disturbing. And so how did you get your children through it? When your children, when you become the meme and everybody knows it's your mom? Yeah. How did you get them through that? It was tough. I mean, we had a lot of conversation. In the beginning, though, I mean, I was not momming to the best of my abilities.

I was pretty broken down. we had for better or worse we had a lot of family visiting last summer I had a lot of people staying at my house my brother and his family and a lot of guests so I tried to kind of pivot to just like life as usual as best I could after maybe the first month and we tried to just get back to it like go to the beach like try to do some normal things it was hard because people were not shy to come up to me in front of my kids and I had a group of women that I was at my sons where he works. works at a surf shop at the beach near her house and a group of women surrounded my car and in front of my son and started to, you know, harass me verbally and kind of make it hard for me to move my car away from where they were. And it was hard to explain that to my kids. You know, they were, they were really lucky to have their peers show up for them in a really supportive way, but they were struck by how horrific grown-ups were acting. And that's a really hard thing for me to explain to kids that, you know, why are, why, because I didn't even know. Do they even understand why?

Yeah, because how do you explain to them why the people are hating you so much? Right. I tried to explain to them, kind of what you described. Like, I think I'm representative of something that touches a lot of fear in people. I don't, and I didn't know. You know, I was trying to figure it out myself. And I wish I could have showed up for them in better ways than I did, but I did the best I could do in those moments. It was really hard. Going back to school for them was really hard. I, they didn't want me on their campuses for the first semester, or trimester. So I missed, you know, I didn't go to games.

I didn't go to parent conferences. I couldn't go to parents' weekend at my son's school. But the schools were wonderful. I worked with them closely to make sure the kids were supported. And like I said, their friends were great. Up next, is Kristen Cabot still in touch with her former boss, astronomer CEO, Andy Byron? She answers when we come back.

Welcome. One plus one equals more of the greatest stories. Hulu on Disney Plus Stories about Our survivors The most dangerous planet Family, retribution Murder, prophecy

Beer and propane The ultimate soldier The Chicago, I'm alright The best of the best stories now with even more from Hulu Amazing Have it all with Blue on Disney Plus Come back to my exclusive interview

With Kristen Kabbitt now Two women in our audience Share with Kristen Kabbitt what they learned from our conversation. Here we go. Do you still talk to Andy Byron, your former boss? No, I ended communication with Andy in midfall. There was a big miss on honesty and integrity.

I don't, he didn't, he wasn't the person he represented himself to be, to me. And lying is not a non-negotiable for me. What does that mean, actually? It means I don't, you know, there was, he missed the mark on being as honest as he could have been with me. And at the end of the day, Oprah, like, I was the one left only... Meaning he wasn't separated? Because what you're implying to me, what I'm hearing, is that he really wasn't separated. Is that what you're trying to say or not? I want to be really careful because the world spoke for me and on my behalf,

and I don't want to do that to somebody else in their family. I don't feel comfortable. But I will say, like, a lot of what was represented to me was not true. Okay. I also want to say that being left... But will you verify, again, as you said to us earlier, that he had... told you, when you told him you were separated, he had said to you, he's going through the same thing. Unequivocally. Okay. Unequivocally.

So you believed when you were standing with him at the co-play concert that he was separated? Absolutely. Zero doubt. Zero doubt. But I was left holding the bag and I don't, you know, being the one that was attacked for this with, you know, he's remained silent. to me that's not a quality that I would look for in a friend or a partner or a boss

so we have no relationship now. What would you have wanted him to do or say? I mean, the entire trajectory of this would have changed if he would have just made a quick statement to say my wife and I were separated at the time of the concert, just like my husband did.

But it didn't matter when it was great that Andrew did that, but it also, I was still left with, you know, the tone changed a little bit, okay, so she was separated, but he wasn't, she's still a homewrecker. Okay. one moment and it's one moment and one split second decision can change the trajectory of anybody's life. Why do you, you know, I'm always, whenever something particularly this big happens,

I say, what are you trying to teach me, God? I know. You didn't have to use this bigger lesson. Yeah. I could have gotten with something smaller. Have you looked at this in the bigger picture of your life? Why did this show up in your life this way? and what is it here to teach you?

Yeah, I mean, that's the million-dollar question. I think about that every single day. And I do believe, like, I got knocked off my course for a reason. Like, there's something to learn here. And there's bits and pieces that are coming into the light for me. I'm really understanding, and I had no concept of this, how when something goes this viral, how the technology companies are benefiting from this

and how we don't know that when we are forwarding and liking and clicking, we are putting billions of dollars in their pockets. You're just creating an algorithm. And creating an algorithm that feeds it. And the more pain someone like me is in, the more money they're going to make. And it fuels it and feeds it. And I think there's accountability there that needs to be looked at.

I think I'm heartbroken at how women are treating other women. Like, I want to, one thing I don't know the answer to yet, but is like how can my experience turn to me? into something positive to keep that conversation alive and try to figure out like why are we doing this to each other. We're so much stronger together. Why are we eating each other alive? Yeah. And holding each other back. And why do we take such joy in seeing other people suffer? Yeah. It's really scary. It's so interesting. Once you've been through something like this, when you see somebody else going through it, it creates an empathetic moment for you to want to reach out

and say, I know what that's like. That's right. Yeah. That's right. I did that. I reached out to a family There was a girl who was, I don't know if you heard about this, she was four years old receiving zillions of death threats because she was helping her dad, who's a radio personality, pick out football teams. And she started to miss the mark on the choices, and people started threatening her life because she was screwing up their gambling publicly.

They were threatening this four-year-old girl, and I reached out to her family, and they were lovely. And, I mean, it's so scary what they're going through. I mean, it's just, it's happening all the time. It's also, my producer said that what Daryl Hannah recently released a statement about what was going on in the Kennedy love story. That's right. I actually brought, I wanted to share a quote if I could from that.

If anyone has, if you haven't read her essay in New York Times this past week, it's a beautifully written piece. But it struck me deeply. And there was a part where she talks about how Jackie Onassis used to say to her, like, there's going to be horrible things in the news. It's going to, you know. Because Dera Hannah was dating. Was dating John of Kennedy Jr. and Jackie O said,

people are going to write horrible things about you, but don't worry about it. It'll be lining a birdcage tomorrow. And people will, you know, the newspapers will be lining bird cages. Don't worry. And she wrote, and I quote, this was from on the 6th of March,

in the digital age, stories do not disappear. Yesterday's news is not tossed out with the morning paper and lies live online forever. They are archived, streamed, clipped, meamed, and resurfaced endlessly. A dramatized portrayal can become for millions of viewers,

the definitive version of a real person's life. They think that that's history. That's right. Yeah. So that, I mean, that's exactly. Like, I wish I knew Darylana, so I could give her a huge hug, but what she wrote about was encapsulated my experience to a T.

Yeah. So where are you now in the healing process for you and for your family? You're supporting yourself. You're supporting your children. Have you started to look for work again? Has Andy Byron, I hear, has gotten offers from other places. Lots of interest. Lots of interest.

And I think he is the luxury of staying silent and he can go back to work when he's ready. I don't. I have to remind myself I'm not on trial, but in order for me to get back on my feet, I have to come out and explain. And I think that's a stark difference between the man and the woman in this situation. I have to explain and justify. And I feel like people, when I speak up, they think I'm trying to be famous. If I don't speak, I must be guilty. So I'm trying to figure out the right balance there.

And for me, I'm, you know, I'm raising my kids alone. I'm financially responsible for my kids alone, and I need to get back to work. Yeah, because people are going to criticize you for it. Like, why are you talking? Yeah, if I talk, I'm trying to prolong my 15 minutes of fame. If I'm not talking, I'm, you know. Yeah.

So, again, you decided to talk because? Because I felt, like I said in the beginning, like I can't stay silent and accept what has happened. 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 feed and fuel something. that created this narrative. But you're so right.

You know, I knew that Andrew had, Andrew, your husband, that you're getting a divorce from, had made a statement saying that you all were separated at the time. But you're right. We never heard from Andy Byron. And if Andy Byron had done that, it would have changed everything, I think. Yes. That's right. That's right.

Don't y'all think so? Everybody would have thought, oh, they're both separated. Okay. still her boss, still HR, still not good. But a lot less interesting to the general public, I think. Yeah, a lot. And I think, I do think, you know, Chris Martin being a celebrity and that adding to it, I think helped with this, you know, this thing going viral for sure. I think when you bring a celebrity into the mix with private people, I think it gives it more.

Yeah. And before we go, I said to you backstage, which I do with all interviews that are important, all interviews are important, but not as important as you wanting to make this statement here. I always ask people before every show, and I've been doing this since 1989, actually. I ask people before we go out, what is your intention? Because I want you to be able to fulfill exactly the reason that you came. Thank you. I'm glad that you came.

I'm glad that you are willing to have your first and you say only interview with me. But most important, I want you to be able to say, and fully not get home and say, oh, I should have said, or, oh, she didn't ask me, what is it you feel that you need to say or that you want people to know before we leave? Yeah, I want people to know that I'm just a regular person.

I'm a private person. I didn't ask for this. I didn't ask to be famous, and I have no experience dealing with all of this. And I'm just, I'm a mom that takes my kids to school and picks them up at practices and tries to juggle work and, where I was, work in parenting and I'm someone's daughter and sister and friend. And I really want people to understand what happened and what harm it does to real people's lives when you

mindlessly fuel a fire like this. It's incredibly dangerous. And I'm so grateful I have the tools I have that I can sit here and talk about it because so many people don't make it through it. And it's tragic. And I just, I want people to, you know, just be kind. And I, you know, it sounds especially women to women. I know you were upset because you felt that there were other women who came out and should have been more supportive, he felt. Yeah, I just think we're holding each other back. Like, let's stop. And I think it's a conversation that needs to be had over and over right now. Like, what is going on with us as a gender that give, you know, we take such pleasure in holding each other back and hurting each other. Yeah. It's really scary. I heard you were upset when

there was a commercial that Gwyneth did, Gwyneth Paltrow, yeah. Yeah, that was really disappointing to me. I felt like Gwyneth, someone whose company is founded on or framed around uplifting women and women's well-being. And she doesn't need the money. I don't know why she felt she needed to throw gas on the fire and get involved in all of this. It just felt really hypocritical to me and unnecessary. And I think, you know, I don't want to let Ryan Reynolds off the hook either. he produced the ad, he created it,

and his wife has just gone through something really similar over the last year. And I find it really kind of astounding that he thought this was a great way to lead, you know. Well, I will tell you that I called Gwyneth and I asked her about this. And so this is an official statement, but I did ask her if it was okay if I shared what she shared with me.

And she said that she was told that you and Andy Byron had signed off on that commercial. And she said she wouldn't have done it if she hadn't heard that you had signed off on the commercial. Had you signed off on the commercial? No. Yeah. And she communicated that to me as well.

Okay. Because she also said, I was going to say, she also said that she sent you an email and that she hadn't heard back from the email. So I just wanted to say that. Okay. Thank you. Okay.

So when, that commercial came out, did you feel that that was just fuel on the fire? Absolutely. I mean, it made everything in that moment and for, you know, ensuing days or weeks, it made everything harder. It was made it a lot harder for my kids, too. I think when a celebrity gets involved like that, they're teenagers, like I said, they know who she is, they know. And it made, it just added to it in a way that was so unnecessary. But people have their own needs, and I can't speculate as to what those are. So it happened and I can just... And you're saying that you've been most disappointed by the reaction from other women.

That's been the biggest thing for me. And I don't know, I wish I could fix it. I wish I could understand. And honestly, I'd love to sit with some of these women that are so angry at me and really listen and try to understand what it is about me or what could I have, what would they like to have seen, you know, I don't know. I'd love to have a real conversation about what it is that makes them so angry. We can make that happen if you're. too. I really would love it. I'm being deadly serious on this. I don't, I have a real need to try to understand and have empathy for people that are hurting and I'm feeling so much hurt that I, I can't fix it, but I would love to understand it. That would help me heal too, to better understand

why people are so angry. Yeah. Is there anybody here who had seen the video who was angry? Yes. So were you one of those angry people? I wasn't angry at you. I, the first thing that came to my mind, when I saw that video was everything that in darkness comes to light. And I pass judgment and I take ownership for that. It was not, it wasn't nice. Yeah. And it's not the type of example

that I should make for my children. As a mom, I empathize with your plight tremendously because unfortunately, children are the casualties of these. They take the brunt

of a lot of this. That's right. But one thing that I think is really important, and I was the woman who was at home and who didn't know, okay, after 17 years of marriage. So when I saw that, it really hit home. Yeah. But the most important thing that I've learned through my journey is that the only person that can define who I am is me. Yeah. That's right. That's right.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's really true. but I also, as a person who is, you know, throughout the internet, you know, people say horrible things. There's no need for that. Horrible things all the time. And it is very, very different if you're up on a Jumbertron that becomes the most watched video of the entire year.

It is. And there is that distinction. But for a person who's going through a very public situation in their own. own microcosm, which is a jumbo-tron for them. It's different. But again, so my apologies for the judgment that I passed based on what I had read. Because you didn't know that she was separated. I didn't know that you were separated. And you didn't know that he was separated. No, it was because that's not I went by the narrative. Well, that's a major factor. But irrespective of that, I would have never, ever, ever said something mean or wished death. Like, that's just,

that's just unacceptable. There's no need for that. This is, thank you so much for sharing that. And so much for being willing to admit that you were in judgment because the whole world was, actually. And I would have to say that in this moment, I think it's really important for we, as the human species, to look at how we are participating in the comments and the global discussions, because does a person deserve death threats because they made a mistake? Think of all the mistakes we've made in our lives. Think of all the mistakes we've made in our lives. all the things you wish had not been seen or you wish you hadn't had done that or said that or whatever. And it gets, you know, replicated 300 billion times.

And now people are threatening your life and the life of your children. They're parked outside your house and your number is all over the world. I mean, just think about that for a moment. Yeah. I am really sorry that you had to go through that. Thank you. Thank you for allowing me to talk about it. And I know it took a lot for you to do this today.

I do have to say, if I can interrupt it, I'm sorry. At the center of the, like, trauma for me is how women have treated me. And it was really scary to come here and sit in the center of a room full of primarily women, just kind of looking at me. Like, this is really, really terrifying. Yeah. But I have to say, like, I do feel a lot of warmth in the room, so I want to thank the people here. This was almost, I almost couldn't do it because of the audience.

And you still said yes. Well, my daughter told me yesterday morning when I dropped her at school, and I was like, I'm so nervous. And she's like, Mom, this will be like therapy for you. You can do it. And I was like, oh, thank you. Yeah, yeah. It does feel good.

Well, it does feel good. It does feel good. So I thank you for allowing me to be your first interview. Thank you, thank you. Thank you. Thank you, those of you who are watching, I'll see you next time. Go well, everybody. Go well. Good job.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good job, good job, good job. Good job. Well done.

Well done. Well done. Well done. Well done. Thank you. Well done. Yes, you can take our picture now. Yeah.

You can take our picture now. Yeah. I hope you'll like cold play again because, honest to God. Oh, my God. Chris Martin, honestly, he's one of the most empathetic people. And if he had known, he never would have done that. The problem is you both look like you're

would have been busted. I know. So when you look like you've been busted, you know, we didn't, those judgments weren't made out of nowhere. It's because both of you look, oh my God, we've been caught. And if both, if it did rape, but just not for what he said. And you do want to work again, right? I'm dying to go.

I'm so bored. I like, I have so, I said to Gailer, I have so much gas left in the tank. I'm dying to get back to work. So he's done job offers and you haven't. That's, that's, wow. I do just want to say like me sitting here, I was getting chills from you speaking. Like, it really honestly, like hearing your. perspective, you know, seeing it on social media, seeing all these different things and people

making their own narratives, you speaking out, I'm sure all the women in this room feel this way. Like, after hearing your story, like, we empathize with you. Like, it really does. Thank you. I'm like, wow. Thank you. You really told it. Yeah, you did a good job. You can subscribe to the Oprah podcast on YouTube and follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

you listen. I'll see you next week. Thanks, everybody.