The last thing Call Her Daddy anchor Alex Cooper probably anticipated was unintentionally igniting a flurry of accusations against her husband, Matt Kaplan, when she publicly criticised her former coworker Alix Earle.
At Trending, the media company that Cooper and Kaplan founded together in 2023, the podcaster’s spouse is now accused of creating a poisonous workplace.
According to a recent Bloomberg investigation, Kaplan, 42, has allegedly gained a bad reputation among current and former Trending employees due to accusations that he “berated” and “yelled” at staff members as well as threats to blackball crew members from the entertainment industry.
The Call Her Daddy host, 31, must now confront the one thing that seems to be beyond her control as concerns about Kaplan’s leadership threaten her $125 million media empire. “This is Alex Cooper’s biggest fear: bad press,” an exclusive source told the Daily Mail. “It matters to her.” She constantly wants to be in charge of the story. She is both cunning and insecure. In actuality, she doesn’t have many pals.
Hollywood producer Matt Kaplan, 42, is married to Call Her Daddy anchor Alex Cooper, 31 (seen in November 2025).
Cooper’s “biggest fear,” according to a source who spoke to the Daily Mail, is “bad press” in response to claims of Kaplan’s actions at work (seen in January 2026).
In fact, Cooper’s ascent to podcast fame was preceded by a widely reported split from her former flatmate and business partner.
In June, Sofia Franklyn, the original co-host of Call Her Daddy, will reveal her side of the conflict in a candid memoir titled Daddy Issues.
Regarding Cooper’s strained connection with Earle, the 25-year-old TikTok sensation first appeared on the couple’s Unwell Network as the host of Hot Mess with Alix Earle, their most recent podcast.
Fans have conjectured that Earle’s exit from the Unwell Network in February 2025 was due to a celebrity dispute.
It should come as no surprise that Kaplan has grown to be one of Cooper’s most trusted confidantes given the public breakup and rumoured behind-the-scenes turbulence that seem to have followed Cooper’s journey to the top of the podcast rankings.
However, the person described how the couple’s unusual dynamic seems to be more one-sided when it comes to business affairs, with Kaplan making all the decisions. “Matt pushes her to do things in her business,” the source added. “She doesn’t have a manager.” Matt is in the room all the time. Everything passes thru Matt.
Cooper moved to Los Angeles and became the only creative director of Call Her Daddy following her breakup with Franklyn in 2020.
Cooper and her former flatmate Sofia Franklyn (right) started the Call Her Daddy podcast in 2018. Cooper became the only creative director of Call Her Daddy after the two had a public falling out in 2020.
In April, Cooper publicly criticised TikTok star Alix Earle (right), who had been silent about rumours of a nasty feud between the two (seen in August 2023).
Cooper’s representative arranged a Zoom meeting with Kaplan, the CEO and founder of ACE Entertainment, in July of that year. The two were romantically involved, and Call Her Daddy listeners would always refer to him as “Mr. Sexy Zoom Man.”
However, Kaplan had an amazing resume of his own. In addition to founding his own production firm, Kaplan produced the popular Netflix movie series To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and its spin-off, XO, Kitty.
In 2016, he wed Australian actress Claire Holt; however, a year later, on the eve of their first wedding anniversary, he filed for divorce.
Cooper and Kaplan quickly combined their business knowledge. Cooper reportedly signed a $60 million three-year contract with Spotify in 2021.
The couple became engaged by May 2023. A month later, they established Trending, a Gen Z-focused media firm that would become the new parent company of ACE Entertainment and Call Her Daddy.
They also started the Unwell Network under Trending, a production company where Earle and internet celebrity Madeline Argy had already agreed to present podcasts.
In April 2024, the pair got married in Riviera Maya, Mexico. She inked a new three-year contract worth an estimated $125 million with SiriusXM in August of that year.
According to a Wall Street Journal article from October 2025, the couple’s most recent media endeavour is the Unwell Creative Agency, which acts as a “conduit for brands to reach Gen Z women” through marketing campaigns, live events, and Unwell’s podcast network.
According to a Bloomberg story, Kaplan “berated” and “yelled” at workers at Unwell, creating a terrible work atmosphere (shown in May 2023).
Cooper and Kaplan first connected via Zoom in July 2020. They got married in April 2024 after becoming engaged in May 2023 (seen in May 2023).
Cooper and Kaplan have definitely established themselves as a media power couple in the public eye.
“There’s a lot of tension in their marriage right now,” the person claimed, adding that they don’t sleep in the same room. However, behind closed doors, the source implied that “tension” had been building with the pair long before accusations regarding Kaplan’s working behaviour arose. “At first, Matt was quite kind to Alex and actively courted her. Things changed once they moved in together.
According to the insider, Cooper’s inner circle has also voiced concerns about the couple merging their businesses too soon. “Those close to Alex wondered why she got engaged so quickly before the Unwell deal was done,” they claimed. They can see it now. Matt and Unwell are too entwined.
The Unwell Network has created the Unwell Winter Games, a YouTube competition series with seasoned reality TV stars; multi-day live events in Miami and Las Vegas; Love Overboard, an unscripted dating series available on Hulu; and Call Her Alex, a two-part Hulu documentary starring Cooper.
The Call Her Daddy universe has grown much beyond the flat where Cooper and Franklyn recorded the podcast’s debut episode eight years ago, which is undoubtedly an amazing accomplishment and evidence of Cooper’s drive.
However, Cooper’s capacity to manage Trending as CEO—with her husband at her side—has come under scrutiny after a shocking investigation by Bloomberg revealed job attrition and unease among the personnel.
In February 2025, Cooper will present Unwell and SiriusXM’s live “Date Night With Daddy” event in Los Angeles, California.
Cooper’s Unwell firm introduced Unwell Beverages, a range of energy, protein, and hydration drinks, in January 2025.
An experienced crew member allegedly “broke down in tears” after Kaplan allegedly “berated the staff on set” of the Unwell Winter Games, which debuted on YouTube this month, and “threatened to prevent them from ever working in Hollywood” if they made a mistake, according to Bloomberg.
A production manager had threatened to quit Cooper’s live podcast tour in 2023 because they believed Kaplan was “disrespecting staff by yelling and swearing at them,” a source told Bloomberg.
Some of the event was documented in the Call Her Alex documentary series, but Kaplan told Cooper that the production manager had just “snapped” and was burnt out by the demands of the tour.
Cooper has made it known that Unwell has about 100 employees. According to Bloomberg, a large number of those employees are young adults who love Call Her Daddy and are excited to collaborate with Cooper.
However, according to Bloomberg, “several high-level executives” have left the firm in the past year, including Unwell’s chief growth officer, director of the network, and head of brand marketing.
At the time, the business declined to speak to Bloomberg.
“Alex and Matt truly think they are the smartest people in the world,” said Courtney Babbin, who applied for the position of Event Director at the Unwell Network in February 2025. One woman who spoke to the Daily Mail about her “bizarre” interview with Kaplan stated that she was not shocked by the staff complaints.
The Daily Mail was informed by a source that “tension” had been developing between the pair before to the revelation of accusations regarding Kaplan’s actions at work (shown in July 2024).
When Babbin described Kaplan’s “weird” behaviour during her last round of interviews for the job, it went viral on TikTok.
In the video, she said that during their two-hour interview, Kaplan avoided making eye contact with her and asked her “inappropriate” personal questions, such what her parents do for a profession.
“If my interview is that rough, I could only imagine what happens behind closed doors,” Babbin told the Daily Mail, describing their encounter as “the most uncomfortable two hours of my life.”
Naturally, some of Cooper’s devoted followers have questioned just how involved the Call Her Daddy presenter is in Unwell’s daily operations.
Cooper is “often extremely busy keeping her show and other creative projects running,” according to sources who spoke to Bloomberg, leaving Kaplan to oversee the network as a whole.
This was corroborated by a prior Daily Mail story in which a different insider revealed how Cooper’s well-connected husband has contributed to her unchecked success.
According to the source at the time, Kaplan is involved in “business decisions… behind the scenes,” and the couple want to “grow the Call Her Daddy brand.”
There is no denying that Cooper and Kaplan are involved in a lot of different things, including the production company’s schedule of unscripted programming and live multi-day events, Cooper’s popular podcast, and a brand of Unwell apparel and energy drinks.
But whether the couple has already overextended themselves appears to be a big worry for Unwell’s future. “They’re trying to do everything,” Babbin remarked. “It’s reality TV, it’s events.” “They want to do a full takeover, which is strange because I didn’t sign a [non-disclosure agreement], but he told me all of their business plans,” she went on. That will undoubtedly lead to some confusion and disaster, in my opinion.
Cooper and Kaplan’s agents were contacted by The Daily Mail for comment, but they did not respond.
