Franklyn Accuses Cooper of Using Conflict to Secure Raise in Memoir

Sofia Franklyn published her account of the split with Alex Cooper in a new memoir released on Tuesday.

Franklyn writes that she and Cooper proposed a 50/50 revenue split and a $1 million annual minimum guarantee for each of them in 2020. The central dispute involved the intellectual property of the podcast, which Barstool Sports owned. Franklyn states that Cooper met separately with Barstool founder Dave Portnoy and proposed continuing the show without her.

The former co-host alleges that Cooper used a specific incident to negotiate a raise. Franklyn describes a holiday party where she suffered from anxiety and fought with Cooper. She claims Cooper told her that Portnoy and others noticed her aggressive behavior and wanted to fire her. Franklyn later learned that Cooper secured a raise of $20,000 per year, a sum higher than her own salary.

Franklyn details early warnings from members of Cooper's inner circle. A childhood friend named Muji reportedly told Franklyn that Cooper did not truly have friends. After Cooper fired Muji, he warned Franklyn that Cooper was going to "f" her. Franklyn writes that she ignored these signs until the podcast gained creative control at Barstool with Portnoy's blessing.

The professional split became unavoidable during contract negotiations. Portnoy called Franklyn to inform her that Cooper had hired her own lawyer and claimed Franklyn was dragging out the process. Portnoy suggested Franklyn could start her own show, which Barstool would promote heavily. Franklyn states that Cooper locked her out of their shared social media accounts after the departure.

Cooper released a 52-minute YouTube video titled "The Truth about Call Her Daddy" following the split. In the video, Cooper described Franklyn as a liability. The video remains online six years later and has accumulated 4.6 million views. Franklyn's book opens with a scene involving Matt Kaplan, a Hollywood producer married to Cooper since 2024. Kaplan co-founded the Unwell Network with Cooper and reportedly threatened to sue over the book. Representatives for Unwell told the New York Times that Kaplan never discussed the claims with Franklyn's publisher, Verve.

Neither Portnoy nor Cooper's representatives responded to comment requests on Tuesday. The 240-page book, Daddy Issues, offers a detailed look at the relationship between the two women who co-created the viral podcast in 2018. Franklyn has over 619,000 Instagram followers and launched her own program, Sofia with an F, after the split.