- Podcasters Sofia Franklyn and Alex Cooper had a public falling out in 2020 after they disagreed on negotiations with Barstool over Call Her Daddy.
- In Feb. 2025, Variety reported that Alix Earle’s Hot Mess podcast was dropped by Alex’s Unwell Network in 2025 amid feud rumors between the social media personalities.
- Now, Alix is seemingly supporting Sofia as she releases her tell-all book about the Call Her Daddy falling out, Daddy Issues.
Sofia Franklyn and Alex Cooper’s public falling out over Call Her Daddy may have gone down six years ago, but the drama seems to be alive and well, since the Sofia With an F host is seemingly dropping more details in her upcoming tell-all memoir, Daddy Issues.
She announced the move on February 25, exclusively telling Rolling Stone, “The decision [to write the book] was one I came to on my own. 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.”
Alix Earle, who had her own rumored rift with Alex after the Unwell Network reportedly dropped her Hot Mess podcast in February 2025, seemed to subtly support Sofia’s book on social media. According to DeuxMoi, both the Dancing With the Stars alum and her sister, Ashtin Earle, dropped Likes on Sofia’s social media post announcing the memoir.
In case you aren’t aware of the layers this simple move has—and are still asking yourself, Wait, Alex Cooper and Alix Earle aren’t the same person?—allow us to catch you up to speed.
Sofia—who hosted Call Her Daddy with her bestie and college roommate Alex Cooper under Dave Portnoy’s company, Barstool—had a public falling-out in 2020 after they disagreed on negotiations with Barstool over the future of the show. While Sofia’s boyfriend at the time, Peter Nelson (aka “Suitman”), advised the girls not to renew their Barstool contract and take the show elsewhere, Alex wanted to sign on for one more year under the condition that she and Sofia owned the intellectual property of the pod.
In 2021, Alex continued Call Her Daddy without Sofia, eventually signing a $60 million deal with Spotify and another $125 million deal with SiriusXM in 2024. The latter includes exclusive advertising and distribution rights for Call Her Daddy, as well the Unwell Network, her company.
Which brings us to Alex’s rumored rift with Alix Earle. When developing the Unwell Network, Alex signed the TikTok creator as one of the first podcasters under the company with Alix’s show, Hot Mess, in August 2023.
Things seemed to be going well until this time last year, when Variety reported that the Hot Mess podcast was dropped by the Unwell Network amid feud rumors between the social media personalities.
Sources gave a bit more context to the Alix vs. Alex situation with Us Weekly, saying, “They’ve had a lot of drama between them [since] they decided to collaborate on Unwell. They clashed over business, and their friendship is over because of it.”
While Alix has seemingly taken a hiatus from podcasting, Alex specified that “Alix not being able to podcast has nothing to do with Unwell” in a March 2025 TikTok post. She added that “Unwell gave her everything back” and that Alix owns her intellectual property.
As for Daddy Issues, Sofia also told Rolling Stone, “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.”
