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Ryan Reynolds recalled his thought process earlier this summer when he asked Gwyneth Paltrow to shoot a PSA related to the drama surrounding the astronomer.
During a Q&A at the Wall Street Journal’s CMO Council Summit, the 49-year-old actor spoke about the company’s ad shoot. It comes shortly after former CEO Andy Bailon made national headlines after he was caught on kiss cam cradling former human resources director Christine Cabot at a Coldplay concert.
Reynolds detailed that his company, Maximum Effort, was involved and ultimately helped produce the promotional spot, saying, “Just 14 hours later, I’m paying for it and I still haven’t received their blessing (and I know). But at the time, no one…knew what Astronomer was going to do. So I thought, ‘What if Gwyneth explains it?'” ” (Paltrow’s ex-husband, Chris Martin, played a key role in this viral moment.)
“I found Astronomer to be a great company,” continued the father of four. “They do really great things.”
“But it was a real opportunity for them to take a conversation that had been so toxic out of its place and focus on what was important in a fun, easy, emotional and lovely way,” Reynolds added.
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Byron, 51, was spotted with Cabot, 53, at a concert in Massachusetts in July when they were both in Astronomer. The pair tried to hide from the public eye while the story went viral, with Coldplay’s Martin, 48, joking from the stage that they were having an “affair”.
Mr. Brylon and Mr. Cabot ultimately resigned from Astronomer. After Byron’s resignation, the company said, “Our leaders are expected to set standards in both conduct and responsibility, and those standards have not been met recently.”
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Cabot was already separated and living separately from her husband, Andrew, but she later filed for divorce. A source close to her later insisted to PEOPLE that she and Byron were not romantically involved and that the spotlight on them and their family was “devastating.”
Meanwhile, Byron has not publicly commented on what happened or responded to requests for comment from the public, but he was seen several times with his wife, Megan, in Maine last month, according to photos published by the Daily Mail. A review of court filings by PEOPLE shows that both are wearing wedding rings, and neither appears to have filed for divorce.
Sean T. Smith writes for WSJ
Amid the drama, Paltrow’s PSA for Astronomer was shared on the company’s social media accounts with the caption, “Thank you for your interest in Astronomer.”
In it, the Marty Supreme star said, “I was hired on a very temporary basis to speak on behalf of over 300 employees at Astronomer,” explaining that the company has received “many questions” since the scandal broke.
She said she was going to answer the most common questions Astronomer received, the first of which was, “OMG! What’s the real deal?” –However, Paltrow evaded the investigation.
When Astronomer’s next question was “How’s your social media team doing…”, the star spun again before the entire question appeared on screen.
Paltrow concluded, “We’re going back to what we do best: delivering innovative results for our customers. Thank you for your interest in Astronomer.”
