Astronomer, the tech firm that shot to fame after its CEO’s affair went viral on Coldplay’s jumbotron, seems to have gone all-in on damage control. In a bold move, they brought in Hollywood star and entrepreneur Gwyneth Paltrow as a temporary spokesperson. Paltrow handled the heat with a mix of humour and OMG-worthy lines, dodging awkward questions while turning the frenzy into a marketing win. Now, her biographer claims to know just how massive that paycheck might’ve been.
Gwyneth Paltrow and Astronomer’s deal
According to biographer Amy Odell, who wrote the book, Gwyneth, posted a video on Instagram on July 26 where she claimed to have exclusive information about how much Chris Martin’s ex-wife has been paid for brand partnerships over the years, including the Astronomer deal. Odell said that Gwyneth was likely paid “in the millions” for this short-term role with the company.
Odell also revealed other past endorsements by the Goop founder. She said Gwyneth was paid $1.6 million just to appear at the Red Sea International Film Festival in Saudi Arabia. In fact, in late 2023, she attended the SKIMS launch party to promote their Swarovski collab, $250,000. On top of that, Gwyneth had a far bigger contract with Swarovski, reportedly worth $1.25 million, in exchange for wearing their jewellery on multiple occasions. She’s also been paid “millions” by brands like Copper Fit, according to Odell.
Astronomer’s former CEO Andy Byron and HR head Kristen Cabot both stepped down after their little Jumbotron moment at Coldplay’s Boston concert blew up online. The two, married to other people, were caught cuddling on the big screen, then awkwardly ducked out of frame, which only made the internet run wilder. Memes, late-night jokes, even politicians weighed in. But instead of taking the usual crisis management route, the company hired Gwyneth Paltrow, who is Coldplay frontman Chris Martin’s ex. In a clip shared by Astronomer on July 25, Paltrow says:
“Hi, I’m Gwyneth Paltrow. I’ve been hired on a very temporary basis to speak on behalf of the 300+ employees at Astronomer… Astronomer has gotten a lot of questions over the last few days, and they wanted me to answer the most common ones.” She didn’t touch the scandal, just flirted around it. The tone stayed cheeky, light. She went on to promote the company’s tech game instead: “Yes, Astronomer is the best place to run a patchy airflow, unifying the experience of running data ML and AI pipelines at scale. We’ve been thrilled so many people have a newfound interest in data workflow automation.”
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Astronomer’s new CEO, Pete DeJoy, also made a statement on LinkedIn earlier in the week. He acknowledged the unexpected attention on the company and said the team has faced many challenges before and assured that they have always bounced back.
