1994–present
Latest News: Alex Cooper Says She Was Sexually Harassed by College Soccer Coach
Popular podcaster Alex Cooper has accused her former college soccer coach of sexual harassment. In the new Hulu docuseries Call Her Alex, Cooper said Nancy Feldman, her soccer coach at Boston University, repeatedly harassed her while she was a player on the team from 2013 to 2015.
Now 30, the Call Her Daddy podcaster accused of Feldman of making inappropriate comments about her body and sex life and once even putting her hand on Cooper’s thighs. “I started to notice her really starting to fixate on me way more than any other teammate of mine,” Cooper said in the first of two episodes. “It was confusing because the focus wasn’t like, ‘You’re doing so well. Let’s get you on the field. You’re gonna be a starter.’ It was all based in her wanting to know who I was dating, her making comments about my body, and her always wanting to be alone with me.”
Cooper recalled that she was worried her playing time would affected if she “didn't follow this woman’s rules” but eventually reported the harassment to the school’s athletic administration during her junior year. In the meeting, however, the administration quickly dismissed her claims and made it clear to her that Feldman wouldn’t be fired.
“No investigation. Within five minutes, they had entirely dismissed everything I had been through,” Coooper said. “I said to my parents, ‘I’m done. I don’t ever want to see this woman again.’” She didn’t play soccer during her senior year.
Cooper followed up on these allegations on her podcast on June 10, the same day as the docuseries released. “It’s really painful to talk about, and I think a part of me also feels embarrassed that this happened to me,” she said. She added she isn’t the only player Feldman harassed but didn’t reveal any names.
Feldman retired from her coaching position in 2022. Neither she nor Boston University has responded to Cooper’s allegations.
Who Is Alex Cooper?
Alex Cooper is the host and co-creator of the chart-topping podcast Call Her Daddy. Since its 2018 beginnings, the show has evolved from offering sex and relationship advice into broadcasting conversational celebrity interviews with big-name guests such as then–Vice President Kamala Harris, actor Gwyneth Paltrow, and public figure Monica Lewinsky. Call Her Daddy is a massive hit, especially among female listeners, and has consistently ranked as one of the most popular podcasts on Spotify. Beyond her podcast, Cooper is an emerging media and lifestyle entrepreneur through her companies Trending and its subsidiary, The Unwell Network, which focus on Gen Z voices and audiences.
Quick Facts
FULL NAME: Alexandra Cooper
BORN: August 21, 1994
BIRTHPLACE: Newtown, Pennsylvania
SPOUSE: Matt Kaplan (2024–present)
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Leo
Early Life
Alexandra Cooper was born in Newtown, Pennsylvania, on August 21, 1994, to Laurie Cooper, a psychologist, and Bryan Cooper, a now-retired sports TV producer for the Philadelphia Flyers NHL team. Alex is the youngest of three siblings; she has an older sister, Kathryn, and an older brother, Grant.
Cooper attended The Pennington School, a private college preparatory school in New Jersey, and had her sights set on playing Division I college soccer. She played attacking midfielder on her high school team, which won the Prep-A title all four seasons. “We have some amazing girls on this team, and that’s rare. You usually don’t see this many D-I athletes on a high school team,” Cooper told The Trentonian in 2013. Cooper, who served as a team co-captain her senior year, committed to Boston University.
In college, the student-athlete followed in her father’s footsteps, majoring in film and television. Cooper played soccer at Boston University her freshman through junior years (the 2013-2015 seasons). The midfielder appeared in 61 total games. Cooper didn’t play her senior year and later revealed she left the team after her coach, Nancy Feldman, sexually harassed her. Detailing the experience for the first time in the June 2025 docuseries Call Her Alex, Cooper said Feldman made inappropriate comments about her body and sex life. Although she reported the behavior to the school’s athletic administration, her claims were dismissed. (Feldman and the university haven’t responded to Cooper’s allegations.)
After graduation, Cooper moved to New York City to work in advertising and, shortly after, started the wildly popular Call Her Daddy podcast that would turn her into one of the most successful podcasters of all time.
Call Her Daddy Podcast
In 2018, Cooper and her roommate Sofia Franklyn created and began hosting a podcast. They named it Call Her Daddy, paying homage to female empowerment. Although “daddy” is slang often used to refer to powerful men, the women wanted to claim it as a phrase used to empower women.
The original episodes of Call Her Daddy centered around relationship advice, sex tips, funny stories, and raunchy jokes, which Cooper and Franklyn referred to as “female locker room talk.” Early episodes, like “The Gluck Gluck 9000,” focused on answering questions listeners submitted to their website and giving sex advice. Cooper has said she edited the show to be “like a vlog” to hold the attention of Gen Z. After four episodes, Dave Portnoy of Barstool Sports reached out to the women via Cooper’s DMs, which led to Portnoy’s digital media and podcast company acquiring Call Her Daddy. The co-hosts signed a three-year deal with Barstool.
Call Her Daddy became an instant success, so Cooper and Franklyn attempted to renegotiate their contracts after the first year. However, the co-hosts disagreed on terms, causing a rift and eventual split between the two women. Business discussions became tense—and very public—sparking Cooper to address the situation in a May 2020 YouTube video: “I wanted [Franklyn] to take the Barstool deal, but I also didn’t want to, like, force her into something that she didn’t want. But at the end of the day, I really wanted her to take it with me.” Ultimately, Cooper agreed on a contract with Barstool, while Franklyn left the podcast in 2020.
Now the solo host, Cooper began recording weekly episodes and earned the nicknames “Father Cooper” and “Founding Father” among her “Daddy Gang” fans. The show became increasingly known for its casual, conversational interviews with mostly female guests, who often opened up about controversial topics or things they haven’t discussed before. When her contract with Barstool was up in mid-2021, Cooper and Call Her Daddy became even more successful.
That June, the firmly interview-style podcast moved to Spotify when Cooper signed a $60 million, three-year deal with the platform. Following her business coup, Time magazine referred to Cooper as “arguably the most successful woman in podcasting.” She then began to record and release weekly video interviews with high-profile guests including then–Vice President Kamala Harris during her 2024 presidential campaign, pop star Miley Cyrus, con artist Anna Delvey, Olympic gold medalist Simone Biles, and former One Direction member Zayn Malik, who hadn’t done an interview in six years.
Helping to set the relaxed tone of Call Her Daddy is Cooper’s distinctly casual style. She typically records wearing a sweatshirt and sweatpants and even interviewed Harris in a hoodie. Her fashion choices serve a purpose: Cooper told Forbes she wants to make the interview about the person she is sitting across from, rather than having the focus on her hair or makeup. Sometimes her guests, like musicians and Disney Channel stars Aly & AJ Michalka, also come in matching sweat sets.
Call Her Daddy regularly ranks as Spotify’s top podcast for women and has often been in competition with Joe Rogan’s show for the top spot on the audio platform. Call Her Daddy ranked second on Spotify’s list of top video podcasts of 2024, with The Joe Rogan Experience at No. 1.
When Cooper’s contract with Spotify ended in 2024, she signed a new deal with SiriusXM for the distribution and advertising of Call Her Daddy plus shows from her Unwell Audio Network worth up to $125 million, sources told Variety. The back catalog of Call Her Daddy video episodes can now be found on YouTube. Two channels on SiriusXM, Unwell Music and Unwell On Air, launched in February 2025 and feature live programming and music curated by the podcaster.
This isn’t the only new chapter Cooper has started in recent years. She’s jumped into the business world with her own media company and the launch of an electrolyte drink.
Unwell and Trending
In 2023, Cooper and her now-husband, Matt Kaplan, co-founded Trending, a media company for Gen Z–focused films, TV shows, podcasts, and live events. The company is “committed to elevating today’s voices and crafting tomorrow’s stories for an independent, resourceful and inclusive generation,” according to a statement. That August saw the launch of The Unwell Network, which includes a platform for podcasts under Trending’s umbrella. Through these ventures, Cooper and Kaplan have backed podcasts such as Boyfriend Material with Harry Jowsey and Alix Earle’s Hot Mess.
After Cooper launched her own network, Rolling Stone called her a “Gen Z Barbara Walters.” However, she doesn’t intend for Unwell to just be a media brand and wants the work she does to resonate with women. To that end, in early 2025, Cooper worked with Nestlé to create the electrolyte drink Unwell Hydration, designed for women. The caffeinated drink comes in four flavors and can be found in Target, Wegmans, and Sprouts.
Husband Matt Kaplan
Cooper met her husband, entertainment executive Matt Kaplan, on a Zoom call for business in 2020, according to W Magazine. Kaplan is the CEO of ACE Entertainment and has served as a producer on projects like Netflix’s XO, Kitty and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. Cooper and Kaplan are cofounders and co-CEOs of Trending, the Gen Z–focused media company they started in 2023.
In February 2021, Cooper announced their relationship in a YouTube video titled “I Have a Boyfriend…” but didn’t reveal Kaplan’s name at the time. To keep his identity under wraps, she initially referred to him as “Mr. Sexy Zoom Man” on her podcast when discussing her relationship. She finally revealed his identity in a W Magazine feature on their engagement.
The pair got engaged on March 3, 2023, at their home in Los Angeles. Kaplan organized a photoshoot to get her out of the house then proposed later that day. “When I came home that night, my entire house was covered in candles, lit all over, music playing, and a scavenger hunt leading to Matt proposing,” Cooper told W Magazine.
Cooper and Kaplan’s wedding was on April 6, 2024, in Riviera Maya, Mexico. Their Goldendoodles, Bruce and Henry, served as ring bearers. “There’s no detail or moment I won’t remember—and I will cherish this celebration of our love forever,” she told Vogue.
Net Worth
As of August 2024, Alex Cooper has a net worth of $60 million according to Celebrity Net Worth. This is due in part to her multi-year deal with Spotify she signed upon exiting Barstool Sports, which sources told Variety is worth more than $60 million. However, this is likely a low estimate for her total net worth, given her Trending and Unwell business ventures, SiriusXM deal worth up to $125 million for exclusive content that started in 2025, and the launch of Unwell Hydration.
In December 2024, after signing with SiriusXM, the successful businesswoman announced she bought her parents a house in Los Angeles, so they could move from Pennsylvania.
Quotes
- I feel like I’m doing exactly what I’m supposed to be doing, so for me, this is what happiness looks like.
- I think it’s so important for us to keep talking about sex. Because it’s not actually about sex—it’s about the equality of the sexes.
- I don’t care if people consider me a journalist or a podcaster, or just a girl that talks online every week, I know what I’m doing is changing a lot of lives.
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Jordan Smith is a freelance writer, editor, and author with 10 years of experience reporting on health, fitness, and news infused with pop culture trends. You can find her work in Runner’s World, Bicycling, Prose, Vital Proteins, and more. She’s also the published author of a book for students on the origins, and deception, of reality TV. In her spare time, the Philadelphia-based writer can be found at a concert, watching too much reality TV, or chronicling her attempt at tackling her endless TBR.
Catherine Caruso joined the Biography.com staff in August 2024, having previously worked as a freelance journalist for several years. She is a graduate of Syracuse University, where she studied English literature. When she’s not working on a new story, you can find her reading, hitting the gym, or watching too much TV.
