Tejal Somvanshi
Sofia Franklyn’s memoir Daddy Issues reached shelves on November 10, 2026, and its foreword carries a direct allegation. Franklyn claims Matt Kaplan, the Unwell CEO and husband of Alex Cooper, called her Verve agent screaming and threatening a lawsuit on announcement day. An Unwell spokesperson told the New York Times that Kaplan never discussed the book or any intent to sue with Verve.
Simon & Schuster published the 256-page book under ISBN 9781668239568. It is organized in three parts and sold in three territories at launch: $30 in the US, £20 in the UK, and AU$36.99 in Australia. On November 9, Franklyn appeared on The Bossticks and said Cooper and Kaplan were working behind the scenes to discredit the book. She also said she fears for her husband, John Messamore, and their family. Verve is now actively shopping Daddy Issues as a scripted TV and film project.
The book works as an autopsy of intellectual property. Under her 2018 Barstool deal, Franklyn earned a $75,000 base salary in Year 1, $85,000 in Year 2, and $100,000 in Year 3, plus $2,500 bonuses for every 10 percent jump in downloads. Barstool owned 100 percent of the intellectual property. She also says the Unwell catchphrase began as her own story and merch concept on Call Her Daddy, then became the brand that outgrew her while the show’s projected revenue reached $11 million.
Inside the Barstool Contract Numbers and The Fathers Pact
The 2018 Barstool contract paid $75,000 in Year 1, $85,000 in Year 2, and $100,000 in Year 3, with $2,500 bonuses for every 10 percent jump in downloads. Barstool owned 100 percent of the intellectual property. Franklyn describes signing it as a breakthrough, not a trap.
The book then traces how the relationship with Cooper soured. After a Christmas party, Franklyn says Cooper tried to get her fired. Cooper then received a secret $20,000 raise, according to the memoir. Franklyn presents that sequence as the first clear sign that the partnership was not equal.
In 2020, the pair renegotiated. Franklyn writes that they demanded a 50/50 split and $1 million minimum guarantees against the projected $11 million in show revenue. Around that time, the two took a weekend retreat and made a pact. If they lost the IP, they would launch a rival show called The Fathers.
Then Cooper cut a separate deal. Franklyn says Dave Portnoy called her and offered a solo show. The pact had been meant to protect both of them. Instead, she writes, it exposed which of them had already moved on.
Readers following this story can find related coverage in the Media Tag Hub, which tracks podcast contract disputes across the industry.
The Muji Fricke Ghostwriting Claims and Early Red Flags
One of the book’s most pointed sections concerns authorship. Franklyn says Muji Fricke, Cooper’s childhood friend, wrote signature jokes for the show. Among them was Gluck Gluck 3000. Fricke, she writes, also warned her that Cooper was cutting Franklyn’s lines.
Franklyn treats that warning as an early red flag she did not fully read at the time. The claim matters because the show’s brand rested on two voices. If the jokes came from a third writer, the debate over who built the product gets more complicated.
The memoir is not only about business. Franklyn writes about college arrests and substance abuse. She also writes about an alleged sexual assault by a New York promoter. She describes a medication abortion at Planned Parenthood in 2023. These passages are told as personal history, and they sit apart from the contract disputes. They also explain why she frames the book as survival, not score settling.
For wider context on celebrity memoirs and the fights around them, see the Culture Category Hub.
How the Alix Earle Fallout Reshaped Reception in 2026
The book arrives into a changed landscape. Alix Earle’s 2025-2026 departure from the Unwell Network reshaped how the 2026 audience reads Franklyn’s claims. Earle’s exit gave readers a recent example of a creator leaving the network. That made Franklyn’s account feel less like an isolated grievance and more like part of a pattern.
Critics will still ask for corroboration. The memoir is one side of a business dispute, and the Unwell denial is on the record. Even so, the timing helps explain the attention. A story about a creator losing control of her work lands differently after another high-profile departure.
Irreplicable Observation
The strongest passage in the Rolling Stone coverage is not about money. It is Franklyn’s own account of what losing the show felt like and what changed after. She told the magazine:
I remember this feeling of powerlessness. Alex rearranging my life with no acknowledgment. My life being taken, overnight. On the scoreboard of Alex vs. Sofia, Alex won. I cannot fathom her trying to do it again. I feel bulletproof… something born out of a dark place. For the first time I have something Alex wants. Our story. My story.
People Also Ask: Did Matt Kaplan Threaten to Sue Over Daddy Issues?
The claim comes from the book’s foreword. Franklyn alleges Kaplan called her Verve agent screaming and threatening a lawsuit on the day the book was announced. Unwell disputes it. A spokesperson told the New York Times that Kaplan never discussed the book or any intent to sue with Verve. No lawsuit has been reported, and the two accounts directly conflict.
What Comes Next for Daddy Issues
Daddy Issues is on sale now across the US, UK and Australia. Further responses from Cooper, Kaplan and Unwell are still pending. Verve continues to shop the story as a scripted TV and film project, so the dispute may reach a second audience. For now, the book and the denial stand side by side, and readers must weigh them.
