Sofia Franklyn Breaks Six Years of Silence With 'Daddy Issues' Memoir

By Tom Whitfield

Sofia Franklyn's memoir Daddy Issues arrives almost six years after the 2020 collapse of Call Her Daddy, and it puts numbers on a breakup that has so far lived mostly in competing online narratives. Franklyn's central claim: she was cut out of a show she co-founded while Alex Cooper kept the brand — and, later, a $60 million Spotify deal.

The book, out Tuesday, traces Franklyn's Utah childhood, a failed stint as a Morgan Stanley analyst, the chance 2018 meeting with Cooper in a rideshare, and the split that ended both a podcast and a friendship.

"The decision [to write the book] was one I came to on my own," Franklyn told Rolling Stone in February. "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."

Cooper has repeatedly declined to comment to Rolling Stone. Dave Portnoy, Barstool Sports' owner, has previously claimed Franklyn "can't get her story straight." Readers should hold that in mind: nearly every claim below comes from one side of the story.

What does the memoir actually allege?

The book's disclosures include:

• Substance abuse. Franklyn writes that her early adulthood involved heavy drugs and alcohol — three arrests (one for a fake ID, two for underage drinking), and an incident where she accidentally smoked meth believing it was cocaine. A friend offering heroin, she writes, pushed her toward New York.

• A warning ignored. Cooper's childhood best friend and third roommate, Lauren, allegedly told Franklyn early on: "She uses you because you're hot, to like, go to parties and stuff." Lauren also said Cooper had "tossed" her aside once Franklyn appeared: "You showed up and it was like I never existed."

The Barstool contract. The 2018 three-year deal paid $75,000, then $85,000, then $100,000, with $2,500 bonuses per 10 percent download increase. Barstool acquired the Call Her Daddy IP outright — the name and the social accounts. Franklyn says her mother urged her to shop the show elsewhere; Cooper wanted speed; Franklyn signed.

An alleged firing attempt. After a heavy-drinking night at a Barstool Christmas party, Franklyn writes, Cooper claimed Portnoy wanted to fire her and steered her toward a psychiatrist, who prescribed naltrexone. When Franklyn later spoke to Portnoy and Barstool executives directly, "no one seemed as worried as Cooper had implied." A former podcast employee, Muji, reportedly told her Cooper went to Portnoy seeking her dismissal, then secured a raise: "If I have to put up with her, I need more money."

What was the money fight about?

By 2020, Franklyn and Cooper's legal team projected the show had generated $11 million, excluding merchandise. Their contracts blocked outside deals — books, alcohol sponsorships, tours. They demanded, in writing, a "50/50 split of all revenue" and a "minimum guarantee — $1M each, per year."

At a weekend retreat, the two agreed on a worst-case plan: walk away from the IP and launch a new show, The Fathers. "What is the name without us?" Franklyn wrote.

The name, it turned out, was worth plenty. Cooper negotiated a deal keeping the show at Barstool without Franklyn. Portnoy called Franklyn to offer her own podcast — "your own show, your own editor, and anything else you need" — but she felt too burned to accept.

What followed the split?

Cooper posted a 52-minute YouTube video, "The Truth About Call Her Daddy," calling Franklyn a "liability." Franklyn writes she became withdrawn and paranoid, returned to drinking, cheated on her then-boyfriend Peter Nelson, and ended the relationship. She also writes about an abortion the day before a family trip to the Amalfi Coast: "How can I bring new life into the world when I don't live a life worth keeping myself?"

She launched Sofia with an F — for $500,001, a dollar more than Cooper's first solo Barstool deal, a detail she frames as pointed. On the day of the book announcement, she says, Cooper's husband Matt Kaplan called her book agent threatening to sue — her first contact from Cooper's camp in six years.

"For the first time I have something Alex wants. Our story. My story," Franklyn writes.

What changes now is the record: Franklyn finally has her version in print, with figures attached — while Cooper, holding the platform and the IP, has so far answered with silence.