Years after the shockwaves of the Call Her Daddy podcast implosion reverberated across digital media, the true anatomy of that historic fallout remains a subject of intense pop-culture fascination. When co-hosts Sofia Franklyn and Alex Cooper parted ways in 2020 amid a high-stakes, highly publicized contract dispute with Dave Portnoy’s Barstool Sports, the resulting narrative was largely framed as a collective gamble gone wrong. Cooper walked away with the intellectual property, a massive multi-million-dollar future, and sole ownership of the brand, while Franklyn was left out in the cold, facing fierce public backlash.
For years, both creators have addressed the fracture in broad strokes during various interviews and independent podcast episodes. However, the definitive, raw history of their partnership’s demise is finally coming to light. In her upcoming memoir, Daddy Issues, Sofia Franklyn strips away the polished veneer of digital celebrity to detail the visceral betrayal that preceded their professional split.
According to a newly published excerpt from The Hollywood Reporter, Franklyn’s upcoming book delves into shocking revelations that dwarf previous public understandings of the feud. Franklyn details discovering a hidden financial discrepancy—learning that Cooper had been secretly pulling in $20,000 more per year—and unearthing allegations that her closest friend and roommate had actively attempted to get her fired years prior. Far from a simple professional disagreement over contract terms, Daddy Issues recasts the Call Her Daddy breakup as a profound personal betrayal that fundamentally altered the trajectory of both women’s lives.
Detailed Chronology: The Rise and Fall of Call Her Daddy
The Genesis of a Phenomenon (2018)
The story of Call Her Daddy began in 2018 when roommates Sofia Franklyn and Alex Cooper conceptualized an unapologetic, raunchy audio diary centered on modern dating, sexual liberation, and the harrowing landscape of Manhattan relationships. Armed with unfiltered candor and a dynamic comedic chemistry that felt like eavesdropping on two best friends venting over brunch, the show achieved viral momentum almost overnight.
Within months, the podcast crossed millions of downloads, capturing the cultural zeitgeist of Gen Z and millennial women. Their raw authenticity became their signature asset, drawing a fiercely loyal audience that treated the hosts not merely as media personalities, but as trusted confidantes.
The Barstool Sports Acquisition and Escalating Tensions
Recognizing the explosive commercial potential of the show, Dave Portnoy’s digital media empire, Barstool Sports, signed Franklyn and Cooper in 2018. Under the Barstool umbrella, Call Her Daddy scaled to unprecedented heights, cementing its status as a premier audio property. However, as the show’s revenue-generating power skyrocketed, the friction between the co-hosts and their corporate parent intensified.
By early 2020, Franklyn and Cooper entered a high-stakes renegotiation phase. The negotiations quickly devolved into a months-long stalemate. While the public narrative focused on a unified front—famously branded as the "Suitman" saga involving Franklyn’s then-boyfriend, HBO executive Peter Nelson—internal dynamics were rotting from the inside out.
The Breaking Point and the 2020 Excision
In May 2020, the partnership collapsed entirely. Portnoy publicly excoriated the hosts, offering unprecedented transparency into the negotiation tactics and detailing a deal that would have handed the co-hosts lucrative guarantees and intellectual property concessions. While Cooper ultimately chose to negotiate directly with Portnoy, broke away from Franklyn, and signed a deal to retain the Call Her Daddy name as sole host, Franklyn declined the terms at the eleventh hour.
The immediate aftermath was devastating for Franklyn. She faced a relentless wave of cyberbullying, public ostracization, and professional limbo, while Cooper steered the brand into historic corporate partnerships, eventually securing a landmark $60 million deal with Spotify.
Unmasking the Betrayal: Revelations from Daddy Issues
While the mechanics of the corporate divorce have been heavily analyzed, Daddy Issues provides an intimate, agonizing window into the psychological warfare happening behind closed doors. In the excerpt shared by The Hollywood Reporter, Franklyn recounts the exact moment she discovered the financial chasm between her and her co-host.
The Financial Discrepancy
Learning through her legal representation that Cooper had been quietly pocketing $20,000 more annually than her sent Franklyn into a spiral of disbelief. As equal co-creators, co-owners, and co-workers who shared every facet of their daily lives—from apartment space and emotional crises to professional triumphs—the monetary disparity felt like a knife in the back.
“All rationality is gone. The bitch. I feel pure hatred. I might combust. Who is this person? Alex, who is she? Am I stupid? Gullible? Dumb? Naive? Living something that wasn’t true? That’s not true? Was she ever my friend?” Franklyn writes in the memoir.
She notes the agonizing irony of sitting in meetings for six months alongside Cooper, locked in a brutal trench warfare against corporate management to secure fair pay, all while unaware that her closest ally had already quietly secured a separate financial arrangement for herself.
The Conspiracy to Oust
Seeking to make sense of the deception, Franklyn placed a frantic phone call to a former show producer—who also happened to be a childhood friend of Cooper’s. Rather than offering comfort, the conversation expanded the scope of the betrayal exponentially.
According to the excerpt, the producer informed Franklyn that Cooper’s maneuvering was not a recent development born of contract stress. Instead, he revealed that Cooper had attempted to orchestrate Franklyn’s firing years prior, while also quietly laying the groundwork for a solo transition by attempting to re-engage producers behind Franklyn’s back.
“She didn’t tell you because she didn’t want you to know she tried to get you fired,” the producer allegedly told Franklyn, shattering her remaining illusions about the nature of their partnership.
Supporting Context & Metrics: The Business of Podcasting and Public Perception
To fully comprehend the weight of Daddy Issues, one must evaluate the massive financial and cultural stakes surrounding the Call Her Daddy brand. The podcasting industry in the late 2010s and early 2020s transitioned from an indie-creator landscape into a multi-billion-dollar corporate asset class.
Valuations and Corporate Muscle
The Barstool Era: At the peak of their initial fame, Franklyn and Cooper were generating millions of downloads per episode, making Call Her Daddy one of the most lucrative podcasts in the Apple Podcasts top charts.
The Spotify Blockbuster: Following the split, Alex Cooper leveraged the sole ownership of the IP into a historic $60 million exclusive distribution deal with Spotify in 2021, later expanding her multimedia footprint through her company, The Kindly Group.
Franklyn’s Independent Resurgence: Sofia Franklyn rebuilt her career from the ground up, launching her independent podcast, Sofia with an F, and successfully carving out a resilient digital presence centered on radical transparency and personal accountability.
The financial chasm between the two creators post-split has often fueled public fascination, but Daddy Issues shifts the focus from bottom-line numbers to the human collateral damage of chasing digital empire status.
Official Statements and Media Silence
As of publication, representatives for Alex Cooper have declined to comment on the excerpts from Daddy Issues, maintaining the strategic distance that Cooper has largely kept regarding the historical details of the 2020 breakup. Cooper has previously spoken about moving past the drama, focusing heavily on her current media empire, her marriage, and high-profile celebrity interviews on Call Her Daddy.
Franklyn, however, has been remarkably candid about her motivations for committing her story to print. Speaking with Rolling Stone earlier this year, Franklyn emphasized that the memoir is not merely a hit piece, but a necessary act of psychological excavation.
“Six years ago, I was reeling from an experience I didn’t understand. I needed to grow up and be free of ego as much as humanly possible,” Franklyn shared in February. “A book is reflective, vulnerable; it can’t be performative. The writing practice has been intense — sitting down, laying everything bare — but probably the most enriching thing I’ve ever done.”
Future Outlook: Healing, Legacy, and the Memoir’s Release
The publication of Daddy Issues marks a significant turning point in the cultural history of the influencer economy. For years, digital creators have built multi-million-dollar brands on the premise of radical authenticity, inviting audiences into the most intimate details of their personal lives. Yet, the backstage reality of these digital partnerships often remains obscured by non-disclosure agreements, PR spin, and corporate litigation.
By pulling back the curtain on the toxic underbelly of early podcasting fame, Franklyn’s memoir humanizes the collateral damage of rapid, high-stakes success. It addresses universal themes of female friendship, betrayal, professional ambition, and the arduous process of rebuilding an identity after an existential public collapse.
As Daddy Issues hits shelves, it is poised to reignite conversations about the ethics of early-stage digital partnerships, the psychological toll of overnight internet stardom, and the resilience required to reclaim one’s narrative after being written out of your own success story. For Sofia Franklyn, the book represents final closure—a way to transition from being defined by a painful ending to authoring her own independent legacy.
