Tejal Somvanshi
Six years after her very public split from Call Her Daddy, Sofia Franklyn’s new memoir opens not with a podcast anecdote, but with an alleged legal threat — one her former partner’s company directly disputes.
Daddy Issues, published by Simon & Schuster, was released November 10 in the US. In its foreword, Franklyn writes that when the book was announced, Alex Cooper’s husband and Unwell CEO, Matt Kaplan, called her literary agent screaming and threatening a lawsuit. An Unwell spokesperson told The New York Times that Kaplan never discussed the book or any legal action with Franklyn’s agency, Verve, and no lawsuit has been filed. In a November 9 interview, Franklyn said she believes Cooper and Kaplan are working behind the scenes to discredit the book and worries her husband and family could become collateral damage.
According to Franklyn’s memoir, her 2018 Barstool Sports contract gave the company 100% of Call Her Daddy’s intellectual property in exchange for a $75,000 base salary, and she relied only on an informal pact with Cooper to launch a backup show called The Fathers if things fell apart. Franklyn’s account frames this as the reason she ultimately lost both a show she says was projected to generate $11 million a year and the “Unwell” catchphrase that now anchors Cooper’s media network and beverage brand — a framing that is Franklyn’s own characterization of events, not an independently adjudicated figure.
Inside the Barstool Contract Numbers and ‘The Fathers’ Pact
Per Franklyn’s memoir, her original 2018 Barstool deal paid $75,000 in year one, rising to $100,000 by year three, with Barstool owning all of the show’s intellectual property. The book alleges Cooper secured a secret $20,000 raise after trying to get Franklyn fired following a dispute at a company Christmas party — an allegation not independently corroborated in the sources reviewed for this check. During the pair’s 2020 renegotiation, Franklyn’s account says she pushed for a 50/50 revenue split and $1 million minimum guarantees; when that failed, she says Dave Portnoy offered her a separate solo show.
The Muji Fricke Ghostwriting Claims
The memoir also alleges that Cooper’s childhood friend, Muji Fricke, wrote some of the show’s signature material, including the catchphrase “Gluck Gluck 3000,” and privately warned Franklyn that her lines were being cut. This remains Franklyn’s allegation; Fricke and Cooper have not been confirmed to have responded to it as of this writing.
A Rivalry That Predates This Book
The Franklyn-Cooper dispute has already produced competing public accounts well before Daddy Issues: Portnoy’s own memoir, published earlier in 2026, alleged that Cooper and Franklyn had jointly planned a false sexual-harassment claim to exit their Barstool contracts, which Cooper publicly pushed back on without fully refuting.
Did Alex Cooper’s husband Matt Kaplan threaten to sue Sofia Franklyn over her memoir?
In the foreword of Daddy Issues, Sofia Franklyn alleges that Alex Cooper’s husband and Unwell CEO, Matt Kaplan, called her literary agent screaming and threatening a lawsuit when the memoir was announced. An Unwell spokesperson told The New York Times that Kaplan never discussed the book or any lawsuit with her agency, Verve, and no lawsuit had been filed as of this writing.
Daddy Issues is available now in the US for $30. Reporting says the rights are being shopped for a scripted television adaptation, though no adaptation has been announced.
