Alex Cooper reflected on the early days of “Call Her Daddy” in her forthcoming Call Her Alex docuseries — and how her relationship with former cohost Sofia Franklyn shifted as the show got more successful.
“It became really difficult to enjoy the process,” Cooper said during the first episode of Call Her Alex, set to premiere via Hulu on Tuesday, June 10. “It was the classic you think you see something online, and people genuinely believed we were like sisters, but our relationship was so awful.”
Cooper, 30, and Franklyn, 32, started the “Call Her Daddy” podcast in 2018 and after just went episode aired, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy reached out and the women signed a three-year deal with the company. Drama surrounding their contracts and salaries went public in 2020 after Portnoy heard rumors that the show was being shopped to other networks.
“We absolutely deserved more money, but unfortunately, we had signed a three-year contract with Barstool Sports, and they owned our IP,” Cooper recalled in her docuseries, which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival, sponsored by FIJI Water. “Sofia and I went in together and we renegotiated our contacts. Dave ended up offering us what I considered the deal of a lifetime.”
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In an infamous “rooftop meeting” — which was detailed on Cooper’s first solo episode of “Call Her Daddy” in 2020 — Portnoy offered them $500,000 and ownership of the show.
“He said, ‘If you stay at Barstool for one more year, you can own Call Her Daddy.’ Sofia didn’t want to take the deal but I did. So I stayed,” Cooper said in Call Her Alex. “I realized the Daddy Gang was bigger than both of us. When I was going out on my own, I had to look inward and figure out where I wanted to take the show. I’ve never done a podcast where I have to talk for an hour by myself.”
Portnoy, 48, appeared in the docuseries, reflecting on the “Call Her Daddy” success during their time at Barstool.
“They were helping pay a lot of the salaries at Barstool,” he revealed.
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During the docuseries, Cooper also returned to the NYC apartment that she shared with Franklyn, which was where “Call Her Daddy” was born. She also got real about making a shift to celebrity interviews after leaving barstool in 2021.
“I didn’t want to be this character anymore,” Cooper admitted. “I was so sick of like, ‘Let’s talk about sex this week.’ and the way that I was doing it.”
After her Barstool exit, Cooper signed an exclusive deal with Spotify for the show. In August 2024, she signed a $125 million deal with SiriusXM to build out the Unwell Network.
