Company in Coldplay KissCam drama hires Gwyneth Paltrow as spokeswoman
Astronomer, a tech company based in New York, found itself in an uncomfortable spotlight when two of its executives were caught on camera in an intimate embrace at a Coldplay concert – a moment that was then flashed on a giant screen in the stadium.
Chief executive Andy Byron and human resources executive Kristin Cabot were caught by surprise when Martin asked the cameras to scan the crowd during a concert earlier this month.
Thank you for your interest in Astronomer. pic.twitter.com/WtxEegbAMY
— Astronomer (@astronomerio) July 25, 2025
'Either they're having an affair or they're just very shy,' Martin joked when the couple appeared on screen and quickly tried to hide their faces.
In a short video, the Shakespeare In Love and Ironman star said she had been hired as a 'very temporary' spokeswoman for Astronomer.
'Astronomer has got a lot of questions over the last few days and they wanted me to answer the most common ones,' Paltrow said, smiling and deftly avoiding mention of the KissCam fuss.
'We've been thrilled that so many people have a newfound interest in data workflow automation,' she said.
'We will now be returning to what we do best, delivering game-changing results for our customers.'
When footage from the KissCam first spread online, it was not immediately clear who the couple were.
Soon after, the company identified them, and Byron resigned, followed by Cabot.
The video clip resulted in a steady stream of memes, parody videos and screenshots of their shocked faces filling social media feeds.
Online streams of Coldplay's songs jumped 20% in the days after the video went viral, according to Luminate, an industry data and analytics company.
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Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
10 things you never wanted to know about Gwyneth Paltrow
Lucky nepo baby, talented Oscar winner, pioneering businesswoman, or danger to the public? Journalist Amy Odell tackles the polarised perceptions of Gwyneth Paltrow, Hollywood star-turned-Goop mogul, in a new biography. Paltrow refused to contribute to the unauthorised book. So, alas, there are no new quotes from the queen of unrelatability, who gave us such gems as 'I'd rather smoke crack than eat cheese from a can' and 'I am who I am. I can't pretend to be somebody who makes $25,000 a year.' Despite the book being unauthorised, Odell has interviewed more than 200 people connected to Paltrow. All the greatest hits are here, from the showbiz childhood (she's the daughter of director Bruce Paltrow and actress Blythe Danner, and god-daughter of Steven Spielberg) and the weepy Oscars acceptance speech, to 'conscious uncoupling', jade vagina eggs and the infamous ski trial, as well as some juicy new details. Here are 10 things we learnt from Odell's book: 1. Why she broke up with fiancé Brad Pitt Odell chronicles the pair's three-year relationship (1994-97). The book claims Paltrow chose between two film offers, Se7en and Feeling Minnesota, after a friend said: 'Well, who do you want to date, Brad Pitt or Keanu Reeves?' Her romance with Pitt was obvious to the Se7en crew: they held hands on set and smoked cigarettes together outside their trailers. But while filming Emma, Paltrow told a crew member that Pitt wasn't right for her and confessed she had a crush on Hugh Grant. She was concerned their backgrounds were too different, and later told an interviewer 'when we go to restaurants and order caviar, I have to say to Brad, 'This is beluga and this is osetra.'' According to Odell, years later Paltrow confided in friends that she was sad when she heard Pitt was going to marry Jennifer Aniston, and said he 'has terrible taste in women'. The disparagement didn't end there: in 2005, Paltrow allegedly told Aerin Lauder (billionaire heiress to Estée Lauder) that Pitt is 'dumber than a sack of s--t'. During visits to make-up artist Kevyn Aucoin's home, Paltrow reportedly 'cried about Pitt multiple times'. What she described seemed to Aucoin, according to someone with knowledge of his thinking, 'like Pitt might be verbally and emotionally abusive'. Aucoin's advice to Paltrow was simple: 'You really need to end this.' 2. Her steamy chemistry with Ben Affleck Paltrow's friends 'had reservations' about Affleck, whom she dated between 1997 and 2000, writes Odell, 'largely because of his addiction issues [alcoholism and gambling] but also because he didn't always reciprocate her affection'. Affleck preferred playing video games with his friends. But the pair did have steamy chemistry. According to the book, she and Affleck were indiscreet on the set of Shakespeare in Love: a crew member walked in on them in Paltrow's dressing room. Appearing on the Call Her Daddy podcast in 2023, Paltrow gave her verdict on who out of Affleck and Pitt was the superior lover. 3. Falling out with Madonna Paltrow's father Bruce asked Madonna (who he knew through her brother-in-law, director Leo Penn) to write to his teenage daughter, telling her to give up smoking. In 1995, Madonna advised again after nude pictures of Paltrow and Pitt were snapped by paparazzi in St Barts. But the friendship soured around 2008, according to Odell, when Madonna showed up on the island where Paltrow and then-husband Martin were on holiday – Paltrow found that 'strange', she told a friend. Madonna insisted the couple join her for dinner, and then Odell claims Madonna 'went off on' her daughter Lourdes. Paltrow and Martin were apparently 'disgusted by the behaviour', and Martin told his wife: 'I can't be around this woman any more. She's awful.' Paltrow agreed Madonna was 'toxic' and ended the friendship. 4. Stealing a script from Winona Ryder According to someone close to her, Paltrow turned down Shakespeare in Love without reading the script, but later picked it up from her friend Winona Ryder's coffee table and changed her mind. When the script-stealing story leaked to the press, Paltrow told friends that Ryder had started the rumour and denied she stole the script, saying she received it via her agent. On another occasion, when Ryder and then-boyfriend Matt Damon got into an argument, Ryder stormed out and then returned claiming she'd been robbed – twice. Paltrow is said to have believed Ryder was lying for attention. 5. She has a history of fat-shaming According to the book, Paltrow judged other girls at the exclusive Spence School in Manhattan for their weight, and in her senior yearbook listed 'obesity' as her nightmare. Before filming comedy movie Shallow Hal, about a man (played by Jack Black) under a spell who falls for an obese woman, Paltrow put on her fat suit and walked around in public to see how people reacted – but only lasted 20 minutes because she found it 'distressing', said Barry Teague, the film's line producer. Paltrow later gave a tone-deaf interview to Entertainment Tonight, saying: 'I got a real sense of what it would be like to be that overweight, and every pretty girl should be forced to do that.' 6. Her allegations against Harvey Weinstein Odell revisits Paltrow's accusations against the disgraced former Miramax boss, as told to the New York Times – which include that he invited her to his hotel suite and suggested they give each other massages. Paltrow's then-boyfriend Pitt confronted Weinstein, and the producer allegedly later screamed at Paltrow, threatening to ruin her career. In an email to Odell, Weinstein admitted to asking Paltrow for a massage, but says he never threatened her after Pitt confronted him, and that he believed Paltrow had forgiven him. Weinstein said: 'As far as my working relationship went with her, I never put my arm around her without her expressed consent, but she hugged me many, many times over the years.' 7. Paltrow and Chris Martin were an odd couple Paltrow's friends weren't convinced they made sense together: 'While Gwyneth was extroverted and loved entertaining friends, Martin was an introvert who could be socially awkward.' Although what's not to like, quipped one friend, 'about a rock star who adores you?' Paltrow and Martin married in 2003 and have two children, Apple and Moses. But her friends weren't surprised when they decided to split: Paltrow 'seemed to find him 'dorky'.' They wondered if it had just been convenient timing – Martin came into her life right after she lost her beloved father Bruce in 2002, aged 58, to pneumonia and complications from oral cancer. In 2014 the couple announced their separation in a Goop email newsletter, using the now-infamous term 'conscious uncoupling'. 8. She almost pivoted to music In 2010 Paltrow sang in two projects: during her guest stint on TV show Glee (which is where she met her eventual second husband, producer Brad Falchuk), and in the memorably appalling movie Country Strong. That led to her getting some career advice from none other than Beyoncé. Paltrow said in an interview that Queen Bey watched Paltrow rehearsing for the Grammys and told her, 'The singing is great. But you're not having any fun […] Be you!' Paltrow also claimed that Beyoncé and husband Jay-Z (a friend of Martin) suggested she go into a studio and try recording a solo album. 'So that's probably what I'll do.' Alas, the world is still awaiting Paltrow's album drop. 9. She is a nightmare boss Odell uses eye-watering details to describe the bizarre work culture at Goop, including Paltrow having her own parking space with a sign saying 'Reserved for G-Spot'. But the 'sometimes-toxic dynamic' in the office was kept quiet because many employees signed NDAs. Paltrow, who trusted her own instincts instead of market research, created a Goop Glow drink with the flavour of 'birthday cake'. Or at least that was the intention: because its collagen powder came from the sea, the taste was actually 'vanilla fish'. Unsurprisingly, the drink bombed. It's claimed that Paltrow was an 'erratic' boss: she would order her team to carry out her numerous ideas, then lose interest. However, everything had to look perfect, so employees would work until 2am setting up wellness events. When she spotted pee on a loo seat in the office, Paltrow allegedly took to the company's Slack channel, writing: 'Someone tinkled' and 'Make sure to clean up after yourselves'. 10. She popularised disinformation Odell tracks how Paltrow's obsession with wellness and diet grew after the death of her father Bruce. She later told an Italian newspaper: 'Cancer has been the curse of my family […] I am challenging these evil genes by natural means.' Those 'means' included a strict vegetarian diet and only using organic soap and cleaners in her home. But health professionals share their deep concerns about the pseudoscience claims made by Goop and its promotion of wellness gurus such as Alejandro Junger and Habib Sadeghi. Friends and colleagues, writes Odell, worried about Paltrow's 'susceptibility' to such people. But health law expert Timothy Caulfield suggests it is Paltrow's 'narcissistic' belief that only she can see the truth – the result of a lifetime of being treated as special.
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Gwyneth Paltrow's son Moses, 19, reveals if he is following in his dad Chris Martin's footsteps
Gwyneth Paltrow and ex-husband Chris Martin 's son Moses Martin gave his Instagram followers a rare look at his life as a touring musician. Following in his famous father's — who is the longtime frontman of the band Coldplay — footsteps, the 19-year-old star is part of a three-piece band called Dancer. On Monday he took to social media to post a carousel of images taken while on the road with the musical act. The upload included shots of him playing guitar with a microphone set in front of him, and an artsy black and white snap of the band standing in front a brick wall. He captioned the post, 'music music music music,' and tagged @dancerdancerdancer. Another artful, pink-tinted outtake showed the nepo baby strumming his guitar with an earpiece in place. Moses uploaded other assorted photos, including one of him on a couch and a playful one of him wearing two pairs of glasses. The music artist enjoyed a coffee with a friend in one picture, and a scenic shot captured horses with a mountainous sunset in the backdrop. In addition to their son, 52-year-old Gwyneth and 48-year-old Chris also share 21-year-old daughter Apple Martin. To mark Moses' birthday this past April, the proud mom used her social media platform to pay tribute. She shared three FaceTime screenshots of her son with her nine million Instagram followers, and added a heartfelt caption. 'Happy birthday @mosesmartin ❤️,' she began, 'Honestly, you are a dream come true. You are deeply kind and brilliant. You have an incredible intellect and you are so gifted, so talented.' Gwyneth added, 'I listen to your music on repeat and miss you so much at college. And today more than ever. I love you my boy. ❤️mama.' The upload included shots of him playing guitar with a microphone set in front of him, and an artsy black and white snap of the band standing in front a brick wall There was also a snapshot of the nepo baby sitting on a couch A scenic shot captured horses with a mountainous sunset in the backdrop Last December Chris opened up about life as an empty nester in an interview with Rolling Stone. Reflecting on his children moving out for college, he admitted: 'It's sad. That's the only word.' Putting things in perspective, he noted, 'But of course, it'd be weirder if they were still like, "I can't leave." Then you'd be more worried.' Both Apple and Moses are college students, with the former attending Vanderbilt University and the latter a freshman at Brown. Apple told Interview magazine earlier this year that she is 'a law, history and society major.'
The Guardian
3 hours ago
- The Guardian
Self-belief and sex eggs: 10 things we learned about Gwyneth Paltrow from an explosive new biography
When the author Amy Odell approached Gwyneth Paltrow's publicist about her plans for a biography of the actor, Goop founder and wellness pioneer, she was told that Paltrow would be glad to participate – if she was allowed to 'factcheck' the book. Odell didn't agree. Her line to Paltrow eventually fell silent, and her book, Gwyneth, has just been published to much buzz, without the star's participation. Paltrow, a source claimed to Odell, 'invented ghosting'. Now, post-publication, you can picture dozens more being cast out of her golden glow. Odell spoke to more than 220 people for her book, on and off the record; more rebuffed her. 'Many were terrified to talk about Gwyneth,' she writes. The result is nonetheless thoughtful, fair and fastidiously researched – even without Paltrow's oversight. It is also brimming over with gossip. Here are 10 standout topics. Paltrow's pedigree makes many of the 'nepo babies' (lately singled out for having been given a leg-up into Hollywood) look like competition winners. Her mother, Blythe Danner, is a critically acclaimed actor of stage and screen (best known to a younger generation as the mother in Meet the Parents). She met Bruce Paltrow when he was producing one of her plays. Gwyneth and her younger brother, Jake, grew up in a five-storey brownstone close to Central Park in New York. She attended the Spence school, a private girls' school on the Upper East Side, along with Mick Jagger's daughter Jade and the princesses Alexandra and Olga of Greece ('their last name just 'of Greece',' adds Odell). Her parents' connections came into play before she had even finished school. For her senior project, she covered a Bonnie Raitt song – accompanied by Steely Dan's singer, Donald Fagen. Soon after, at 19, she landed a speaking part in Hook, directed by Steven Spielberg – her godfather, 'Uncle Morty'. (He called her 'Gwynnie the Pooh'.) Many years later, Paltrow would tell Vanity Fair that fame had felt to her 'like a predestined thing' – that she had known her 'whole life that this was going to happen'. Blythe and Bruce weren't as confident that acting would work out, Odell writes: they wanted their daughter to have 'a backup plan'. After Paltrow was rejected from Vassar College, her parents asked their friend, two-time Academy Award-winner Michael Douglas, to put in a word at his alma mater. She was accepted by the University of California, Santa Barbara (Douglas gets it done!), but ended up dropping out. Studying film, she had been dismayed to find Uncle Morty on the syllabus. 'I'm sitting here learning about people I know,' another aspiring actor recalls Paltrow complaining. Bruce cut her off financially, and she was forced to get a waitressing gig (though again, through her parents' connections). 'I remember she was so mad about it,' the actor told Odell. Years later – after she had won an Oscar for Shakespeare in Love, broken off her engagement to Brad Pitt and gone, according to one account, 'totally Hollywood' – Bruce sought again to keep his daughter humble, telling her she'd become 'kind of an asshole'. Paltrow was 'devastated', she said, but eventually grateful for the course correction. Fame had gone to her head, she admitted: 'There is nothing worse for the growth of a human being than not having obstacles and disappointments.' Pitt and Paltrow met in 1993, auditioning for Legends of the Fall. She was passed over for the part but made an impression on Pitt, who went on to suggest she play his character's wife in David Fincher's Se7en. Paltrow had also been offered Feeling Minnesota alongside Keanu Reeves. As she dithered, a helpful friend suggested: 'Who do you want to date, Brad Pitt or Keanu Reeves?' Paltrow said yes to Se7en. Not long into filming, she and Pitt were together – delighting her father, who reportedly crowed to a friend: 'Can you believe my daughter? It's fucking Brad Pitt!' According to Odell, Paltrow was never so certain, finding Pitt – from a southern, conservative, religious background – a bit beneath her. 'When we go to restaurants and order caviar, I have to say to Brad, 'This is beluga and this is oscietra,'' she told an interviewer. After two years together, they broke off their engagement. She went on to date Ben Affleck, who she found to be more her intellectual match (not to mention – as she disclosed only in 2023 – a 'technically excellent' lover). But Affleck's addiction issues, penchant for video games and what one of Paltrow's friends remembers as his 'kind of miserable' vibe prevented the relationship from progressing. Cigarettes may have been Paltrow's first love. She started smoking in her first year at Spence, much to Bruce's displeasure. Seeking to get his teenage daughter to quit, he once again leaned on his connections, calling in a favour with his friend's son's new wife – AKA Madonna – asking her to 'write a note to Gwyneth to discourage her'. According to Odell, Madonna happily played model, describing her average day: 'I wake up, I don't smoke … And I go home a happy healthy me. … PS: Good girls live longer.' Gwyneth showed the letter off at school, then displayed it, framed, in her bedroom – and continued to smoke 'a pack a day, probably' until she was 25. She eventually quit in September 1997 after spending three days marooned on a deserted island in Belize. Paltrow had requested the experience as a condition of guest-editing an issue of Marie Claire. Magazine budgets were bigger back then. Odell describes Paltrow as being ambivalent about fame – and scornful of 'tacky, pointless, big, fluffy, unimportant movies'. She found her professional home in Miramax Films, Harvey Weinstein's production company, after being cast in the 1996 adaptation of Jane Austen's Emma. Odell describes Weinstein working hard to make Paltrow a star, throwing his formidable weight and influence behind her Oscar bid for Shakespeare in Love. Her 1999 triumph over Cate Blanchett (nominated for Elizabeth) was later attributed to Weinstein's intense campaign. Even Paltrow had her doubts, betting a pair of CAA agents $10,000 she wouldn't win. (She made good, going to the bank the morning after the ceremony.) But being Weinstein's 'golden girl' didn't come without costs, least of all pressure to do lacklustre parts or press. As Paltrow told the New York Times for their seismic #MeToo report, early in her working relationship with Weinstein, he made a pass at her at a Beverly Hills hotel. (Weinstein disputed her account.) In their book She Said, the journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey describe Paltrow's pivotal role in their investigation. 'When so many other actresses were reluctant to get on the phone and scared to tell the truth … Gwyneth was actually one of the first.' As well as having been born rich, beautiful and well connected, Paltrow is described by Odell as possessing some 'exceptional, if hard to define' X-factor, registering as far back as her school days. This worked against her as much as it did in her favour. Even before becoming an Oscar winner aged 26, Paltrow feared overexposure in the press. Her tearful acceptance speech, coupled with news that her father bought her the diamond necklace she'd been loaned for the ceremony, turned the public against her. Building women up before tearing them down is now a well-worn cycle, Odell notes, pointing to Anne Hathaway and Blake Lively (you might also add Jennifer Lawrence and Taylor Swift). Paltrow was one of the first victims, if not the blueprint. In 2013, she was named Star magazine's most hated celebrity, 19 spots above Chris Brown, who had been arrested for assaulting Rihanna four years earlier. 'Gwyneth would never manage to outrun' the contempt, Odell writes – perhaps influencing her subsequent decision to make it work for her with Goop. Paltrow was ahead of the curve with many modern movements and trends; body positivity was emphatically not one of them. Schoolmates recall her evident 'disdain for fat people'. One remembered changing into swimsuits next to the 'naturally skinny' Gwyneth, and her comment: 'Isn't it interesting how different people's bodies are?' In her senior yearbook, alongside Gwyneth's chosen quote from Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, editors specified her nightmare: 'Obesity'. Later, when she was famous, she allegedly paid for a school friend to undergo an abdominoplasty (or 'tummy tuck'). Paltrow's defining interest in healthy eating, alternative medicine and 'wellness' began after her father was diagnosed with throat cancer. While caring for Bruce, she began researching preservatives, pesticides and environmental toxins; she started following a macrobiotic diet and doing nearly two hours of yoga before dawn, six days a week. Meanwhile, she was also shooting Shallow Hal, 'spending her working hours in a fat suit', Odell observes. Doing press, Paltrow described the film as a 'love letter', and the experience of making it as edifying. 'I got a real sense of what it would be like to be that overweight, and every pretty girl should be forced to do that.' Along with her passion for 'alternative' ideas of health, the seeds for Goop had been sown years earlier, on the sets of Jefferson in Paris and The Talented Mr Ripley. In Paris and Ischia, Paltrow tapped local crew for their recommendations for the best hotels, restaurants and shopping on location – insider info around which she would later build a lifestyle brand. In 2007, she shot a public television show about Spanish cuisine – 'a novel premise' at the time, Odell notes (and one that riled the late Anthony Bourdain, who said of the series: 'Why would you go to Spain with the one bitch who refuses to eat ham?'). Paltrow was married to Coldplay's Chris Martin by then, with two young children, and she was beginning to tire of acting. After the success of Iron Man in 2008, she turned to her side project: an online newsletter. Goop sought to 'nourish the inner aspect', but timing was not on its side. The website launched the week after the stock market crash; Jezebel declared Paltrow 'about as publicly savvy as Marie Antoinette'. Yet she was proved right in her instinct to let them eat banana-nut muffins (her inaugural recipe). In 2008, the wellness industry 'was barely even measured', Odell writes; today it is valued in the trillions. Paltrow was probably one of the first celebrities to conceive of herself as a brand, paving the way for today's saturation of product lines and endorsement deals – and shaping consumer culture. Among the trends and treatments she helped to popularise were Spanx, cupping, gluten-free diets and, more recently, mouth-taping. Even the bonkers ones took off with Goop's endorsement. After a 'vaginal steaming' treatment featured in its 2015 Santa Monica city guide, bookings doubled. Odell describes Paltrow being unfazed by controversy, and even relishing it as good for business. In 2017, Goop went viral for featuring an egg-shaped stone, designed to be inserted vaginally and worn (?) overnight (!) so as to 'balance the cycle' and 'invigorate our life force'. In a staff meeting, Paltrow was reportedly staunch in the face of ridicule: 'Goop defined the concept of modern wellness … Let's own it.' Once again, she was right. The company had ordered 600 'Yoni' eggs; after the backlash, the waiting list to buy them, for about $60 each, was 2,000 names long. When Goop was sued the next year by regulators for making allegedly unlawful health claims, Paltrow chose to pay $145,000 to settle, without admitting wrongdoing; the claims about the eggs disappeared from Goop's website, but they were still on sale earlier this year. Odell notes the irony: for all Paltrow's enthusiasm to factcheck her biography, she was not so exacting or hands-on with the articles published on Goop. Among the famously dubious claims platformed by the site were the healing powers of celery juice and raw (unpasteurised) goat milk, a possible link between bras and breast cancer, and every word uttered by Anthony William, the so-called 'medical medium'. ('We used him when we needed page views,' one former Goop employee admitted to Odell.) Odell makes a valiant effort to factcheck every claim she references in her book, quoting medical experts and Paltrow's many critics to counterbalance all the Goop. But, at a certain point in the narrative, you sense it become futile: wellness is no longer a celebrity foible, a trapping of 'Gwyneth's extravagant and eccentric life', but the water we are all drowning in. On social media, influencers – many in Paltrow's image – spread advice with little oversight or regulation, while trends have had to become more extreme to cut through the noise. After 20 years of Goop, the world has become harder to shock, more receptive to 'alternative' ideas of health and medicine, and even sceptical of science. Today the wellness industry is as big as the US pharmaceutical and agricultural industries combined. By stoking fear about 'toxins', encouraging people to 'do their own research' and seeding distrust in the medical establishment, Paltrow – Odell suggests – paved the way for the conspiratorial, anti-expert, post-truth thinking now embedded in Donald Trump's White House. Both Paltrow and Robert F Kennedy Jr – Trump's vaccine sceptic secretary for health and human services – are avowed fans of raw milk; the real harbinger of end-times will be if she starts eating red meat. Meanwhile, Paltrow continues to sail through with the seemingly untouchable self-belief that has made her such a compelling celebrity to adore, abhor and emulate. 'She is fucking borderline brilliant,' Odell quotes a former Goop executive as saying. 'GP knows exactly what she's doing.'
