Sofia Franklyn publishes memoir 'Daddy Issues' on her split from Alex Cooper

Left · 2Sofia Franklyn, who co-created the podcast "Call Her Daddy" with Alex Cooper, released her 240-page memoir "Daddy Issues" on Tuesday 10 November 2026. 1 2 Left · 1The book is split into three parts: her childhood in Salt Lake City, Utah, with her single mother; her move to New York City, where she met and lived with Cooper and launched the podcast; and her account of their breakup and of watching the show become a multimillion-dollar media business without her. 2 Left · 2The pair became popular in 2018 while the podcast was under Barstool Sports, and split professionally in 2020. Cooper then hosted alone and moved the show to Spotify and later SiriusXM, while Franklyn launched her own podcast, "Sofia With an F". 1 2

Left · 1Variety reports the 2020 split followed a contract renegotiation with Barstool, which owned the show's intellectual property. It says Barstool founder Dave Portnoy offered $500,000 annual salaries, a larger merchandise share and full IP ownership after one more year. Cooper wanted to accept and Franklyn did not, and Cooper then negotiated a separate deal with Portnoy and returned as sole host in May 2020. 2 Left · 1According to the memoir as reported by NBC News, the pair had jointly asked Barstool for a 50/50 revenue split and a $1 million annual minimum guarantee each, and had planned a spin-off called "The Fathers" if talks failed. Franklyn writes that Portnoy then told her Cooper had met him separately and proposed continuing without her. 1 Left · 1Franklyn also writes that Cooper locked her out of their shared social accounts and posted a 52-minute YouTube video, "The Truth about Call Her Daddy", calling her a "liability". NBC News says the video has 4.6 million views. 1

Left · 2Franklyn says Cooper was paid $20,000 a year more than she was without her knowing, after Cooper used a Barstool holiday party to negotiate a raise. Franklyn says she learned of this from Cooper's childhood friend Muji Fricke, who worked on the podcast. 1 2 Left · 1Variety says the memoir adds new details about how the show was made. It says Muji was briefly on the payroll and that, per Franklyn, he supplied jokes including "Gluck Gluck 3000" until Cooper fired him without warning. She quotes him as warning "She's gonna f--- you" and saying Cooper "doesn't have friends". 2 Left · 1Franklyn describes the aftermath as rock bottom. She says she turned to alcohol, drugs and nicotine, moved back in with her mother and experienced intense paranoia. 2

Left · 2The memoir opens with a call to Franklyn's book agent from Matt Kaplan, Cooper's husband and business partner, whom Franklyn says threatened that Cooper would sue. Representatives of Cooper's Unwell Network told the New York Times that Kaplan "never discussed the book's claims or any intent to sue the author with Verve", Franklyn's literary agency. 1 2 Left · 1Representatives for Portnoy and Cooper did not respond to NBC News's requests for comment on Tuesday, and neither did a representative for Kaplan or Verve. The memoir's claims are therefore Franklyn's account, and the coverage does not report Cooper's response to them. 1 Left · 1Variety links the shift in public sentiment toward Franklyn to influencer Alix Earle's public falling-out with Cooper. Earle left the Unwell Network in 2025 and later called Cooper "manipulative and toxic", which Cooper has disputed. Franklyn says seeing that gave her "some validation". 2

Left · 1Franklyn tells Variety she spent the first few years very scared but is now "good". She says she is hoping for a scripted adaptation of the memoir, though "nothing's confirms". 2