Sofia Franklyn details $20,000 pay gap and split with Alex Cooper

Sofia Franklyn writes that Alex Cooper negotiated a salary of $20,000 more than her own annually during their tenure at Barstool Sports. Franklyn details this pay disparity in her new memoir, Daddy Issues, which went on sale this Tuesday. The 240-page book offers a first-person account of the professional and personal rift that ended their collaboration in 2020.

Franklyn and Cooper launched Call Her Daddy in 2018 while working under the Barstool Sports umbrella. The show gained rapid popularity for its candid discussions on topics often considered taboo, including frank sexual anecdotes. By 2020, the two women had separated professionally. Cooper continued hosting the show solo, eventually moving it to Spotify and then SiriusXM in lucrative deals that boosted her mainstream profile. Franklyn started her own podcast, Sofia with an F, and currently maintains an audience of more than 619,000 followers on Instagram.

According to the memoir, tensions began to surface after a holiday party at Barstool. Franklyn describes feeling intense anxiety and drinking heavily during the event, which led to a fight with Cooper. Cooper allegedly told Franklyn that she was rude and aggressive and that company founder Dave Portnoy had noticed the conflict. Franklyn states that Cooper discouraged her from apologizing to Portnoy directly. Later, Franklyn learned that Cooper used the incident to negotiate her own raise. Muji, a former employee known as Milfhunter, reportedly told Franklyn that Cooper said if she had to tolerate Franklyn, she needed more money.

The book also details the 2020 contract negotiations with Barstool. Franklyn writes that she and Cooper agreed to present a unified front, asking for a 50/50 split of revenue and a minimum guarantee of $1 million each per year. They even planned a spin-off show titled The Fathers if the deal fell through. However, Franklyn claims Cooper met with Portnoy separately and proposed moving forward without her. Portnoy told Franklyn that Cooper had hired a lawyer and argued that Franklyn had dragged out the process. Franklyn states that she was subsequently locked out of shared social media accounts.

Cooper released a 52-minute YouTube video titled The Truth about Call Her Daddy following the split. In that video, Cooper described Franklyn as a liability. The video remains online and has received 4.6 million views. Franklyn also recounts a phone call from Hollywood producer Matt Kaplan, who married Cooper in 2024. Franklyn writes that Kaplan warned her book agent that Cooper intended to sue over the memoir. Representatives for Unwell, a media company co-founded by Cooper and Kaplan, told the New York Times that Kaplan did not discuss the book's claims or any intent to sue with Franklyn's publisher, Verve.

Franklyn grew up in Utah with a single mother and was arrested three times before moving to New York City to escape an abusive relationship. She worked at Morgan Stanley and lived with her aunt before meeting Cooper through a mutual friend. That friend, Lauren, reportedly warned Franklyn early on that Cooper often sidelined her. Another early warning came from Muji, who told Franklyn that Cooper did not have many friends and predicted a falling out. Franklyn said she felt defensive at the time but now views the relationship through a different lens.

Representatives for Dave Portnoy and Alex Cooper did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday. A representative for Matt Kaplan also did not respond. The memoir provides a detailed timeline of these events, from the initial roommate search in New York to the final contract disputes at Barstool Sports. Franklyn presents her account as a definitive record of the partnership that built the podcast brand before its commercial peak.