Chappell Roan Made Discomfort in Motherhood Seem Like a Bad Thing
The pop star's comments comparing parenthood to 'hell' garnered both support and criticism, but both sides appeared to be operating under a flawed assumption.
By
Sarah Gundle, PsyD is a psychologist in private practice and an assistant clinical professor at the Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai Medical Center.
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'All of my friends who have kids are in hell.'
When Chappell Roan said these words on a recent episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast, she probably didn't foresee the online firestorm they would create. The 27-year-old pop star went on to say that she doesn't know anyone her age with children who is 'happy, well-rested, or has light in their eyes.'
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a day ago
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"Call Her Alex" Docuseries Most Interesting Moments
Alex Cooper of Call Her Daddy recently released her Hulu docuseries Call Her Alex, chronicling the podcaster's journey from childhood bumps along the way to her rise and success. For those unfamiliar, Call Her Daddy has consistently ranked in Spotify's Top 5 of most listened to podcasts — and is the most listened to podcast on the platform by women. In the docuseries, it dives into the juicy lore of CHD — the early days, the fractures, the rise, and where it is now — answering all the details fans and curious pop culture minds would have on the making of Call Her Daddy. Here are 20 behind-the-scenes moments that really stuck with me: Initially, Alex thought podcasting was for the "older generation that loved radio," especially with the endorsement from her dad, Bryan Cooper. "My dad was like, 'Ooh, there's this thing called podcasting now.'" When she thought about it more, she asked herself, "As a Zillennial, what would I want to listen to in a podcast format?" Back in Boston, during her time on her soccer team, she gleaned that women had different comfort levels in talking about sex. "I really noticed this divide in my locker room of women who would openly talk about sex and their dating life, and then women who were terrified to talk about it," said Alex. "I knew I needed to take a risk." Once Alex realized she had a topic in mind for the podcast, she called up her mom, Laurie Cooper, a psychologist, to say that she was writing content that was "super sexual" and "salacious." She said her mom answered back, "Great! Do it!" Originally, Call Her Daddy had two hosts — Alex and Sofia. They were roommates, and like Alex, Sofia was comfortable talking about sex and wasn't afraid to dive into the details. Alex's previous stint as a YouTuber, and her experience editing vlogs, shaped the podcast's distinct style and sound. The "very choppy" and "very fast-paced" editing gave CHD a unique rhythm. That, plus the sexual content, Alex said, was the recipe for success. "It really was a formula that wasn't being done," she said. In the docuseries, Alex shares that she still edits her podcasts today. Call Her Daddy was able to scale thanks to bro-media company Barstool Sports when its founder, Dave Portnoy, DM'd her. He had come across an episode she posted on her Instagram. What caught his interest was the frank and open way the hosts talked about sex and dating. "I always say Barstool Sports is supposed to be what guys talk about in the locker room," said Dave. "They were doing it from a female perspective." The initial deal CHD signed with Barstool Sports was a three-year contract with a $70,000 salary plus bonuses. The podcast's name came from a hoodie Alex bought in college that had the word "DADDY" splashed across it. "All the guys would always be like, 'Why do you have daddy on your shirt?'" Alex recalled in an interview shown in the series. "Because I am," she answered. Former Barstool Sports CEO Erika Ayers Badan said that because of the salacious content, finding advertisers was "hard," but the brand was a "juggernaut" in merchandise. According to the series, it sold millions of dollars in Call Her Daddy merch. While the podcast was growing in popularity for its frank content, Alex said that the version of herself at the time was a "character" and that it was "the most heightened version" of herself. "I would leave the studio, and my voice would completely change." Despite Call Her Daddy becoming a massive success, there were times of "low moments" and "self-doubt" for Alex, especially due to the sexual nature of the show. She said, "Extended family members thought I was so fucking crazy. Relationships ended in my family because my parents had to stick up for me and say like, 'Oh, she hasn't lost her mind, I promise.'" Her mom, Laurie, said she would hear things like, "She was raised right. She's a good kid. Does her grandmother know?" Laurie countered, "My mother would have 100% endorsed this. That's the one thing. Tough relationship, but my mother was an out-there feminist." Alex said of her upbringing, "I was fortunate to grow up in a household where it was normalized to speak your mind, so I was like, 'give me the microphone, I'll say it.'" Eventually, behind-the-scenes, there were fractures growing between the co-hosts. "It was the classic, you think you see something online, and people genuinely believe we were like sisters," said Alex. "But our relationship was so awful." Circling back to their initial contract with Barstool, the podcast grew, bringing in revenue and millions of listeners. The co-hosts agreed that they "absolutely deserved more money." But they were locked into their deal, plus Barstool owned their IP. A new deal was negotiated where if they stayed another year, they'd get their IP back. "We started to see the unraveling of their friendship. I think they became more aware about how different the two of them were in what they wanted in it, from it, and out of it," said Erika, the former CEO of Barstool Sports. According to the docuseries, Sofia did not want to take the deal while Alex did. "So I stayed," she said. When it came time to host Call Her Daddy on her own, serendipitously, Alex was back at her parents' house. It was the pandemic, and she recorded her first solo episode in their basement, where her earliest passion for creating content was nurtured. The evolution of Call Her Daddy, shifting from a frank and sex-positive podcast to a nuanced version of it that still includes sex but now also includes discussions on mental health and well-being, started when Alex wanted to drop the persona she had developed earlier. "I didn't want to be this character anymore," she said, and when she mentioned that she was in therapy, it was an opportunity for the podcast to shift in a new direction. Alex said, "I understand it may not be revolutionary for someone to say, but the way I was speaking for 86 episodes like nothing affects me, 'I don't get upset. You can't penetrate my emotions. I am made of steel,' so the concept of 'Call Her Daddy' girl, being like, 'I'm in therapy. I'm an emotional wreck.' Everyone's like, 'Alex?'" The podcast now has episodes that range from solo episodes to interviews with celebrities on mental health, dating, career, and life. Notably, even former Vice President Kamala Harris stopped by the CHD studio to talk about women's reproductive rights, career resilience, and challenging norms. Alex said, "I genuinely wanted to start talking to other people." And most recently, Katy Perry came on and made waves when she spilled on what she'd give a blowjob for. Today, Alex has created her own media platform, the Unwell Network, where she hopes to "uplift" the next up and coming voices. Following her success, her dream now would be if one of the creators on her network would get their own massive deal like the one she made headlines with, with SiriusXM. After leaving Barstool Sports, Alex's Spotify deal was for $60 million for three years. Her recent SiriusXM deal is a multi-year agreement worth up to $125 million. What a ride! Are you a Call Her Daddy listener? Did any of its lore titillate? Let us know in the comments!
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Two new documentaries show what it takes to make it to the top of the media industry
– To the top. At the Tribeca Film Festival in New York last week, two new documentaries aired that, while wildly different, had something in common. Barbara Walters: Tell Me Everything and Call Her Alex, the two-part documentary about podcaster Alex Cooper now streaming on Hulu, both showed what it took to get to the top of the male-dominated media business—in two very different eras. Tell Me Everything traces the story of Barbara Walters, the first woman to co-anchor an evening news program in the U.S. She made her debut in that role on ABC in 1976, breaking the hardest glass ceiling for women in journalism and television. The film by director Jackie Jesko follows the barriers Walters continued to break, from her famous celebrity sitdown interviews to her late-in-life reinvention on The View, alongside her personal struggles. While she married, divorced, and had a child, her personal life often suffered, the documentary observes. 'Her job was the love of her life,' one talking head says on camera. 'She was an incredibly ambitious woman who loved the work, loved being on TV, she loved the thrill of the chase, she loved the competition,' says Jesko. 'She got a lot of joy out of it—and it doesn't always have to be a huge personal life that brings someone joy.' Jane Rosenthal, the cofounder and CEO of the company behind the Tribeca Film Festival, adds: 'We grew up with her—and you didn't realize what she was really doing as a woman, that she was the only woman in the room, the kind of fights that she had to have.' Still, other era-defining women in media, including Oprah Winfrey and Katie Couric, reflect in the documentary about how seeing Walters' path influenced their own choices. Couric says she knew she didn't want to sacrifice her family life for her career, after seeing Walters. Which brings us to the next Tribeca documentary. Alex Cooper, the host of Call Her Daddy and media mogul behind the Unwell network, has often been called the millennial or Gen Z Oprah. In Tell Me Everything, Winfrey remembers watching Walters to learn how to succeed as an on-air journalist. Without Barbara, there would be no Oprah. And without Oprah, there would be no Alex. Cooper built Call Her Daddy within Barstool Sports, another overwhelmingly male-dominated media company. Her new documentary traces her upbringing, an experience of sexual harassment in college that she now says motivated her to never be silenced again, and the rise of her podcast. Several decades after Walters' career, Cooper doesn't have to make the same trade-offs that Walters did. Her husband is her business partner. While Walters struggled with private insecurity about her appearance, another topic of Tell Me Everything, Cooper shares her most personal experiences and challenges with her audience. 'She didn't just build an audience, she built a movement,' Rosenthal said while introducing Call Her Alex. Rather than being beholden to someone else's platform—like a television network—Cooper has been able to build her own. Despite all these obvious differences, watching the films back-to-back, it's clear Cooper and Walters have a lot in common. 'I'm a competitive mother*******,' Cooper says. 'I'm hard on myself.' As much as the media industry has changed—the drive it takes to get to the top hasn't. Emma The Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Fortune's daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world. Today's edition was curated by Nina Ajemian. Subscribe here. This story was originally featured on
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3 days ago
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"Call Her Daddy" Host Alex Cooper Has A New Documentary: Here Are 20 Surprising Revelations From It
Even if you're not part of the Daddy Gang, you've probably heard of Alex Cooper and her wildly popular podcast, Call Her Daddy. Breaking out to massive success thanks to her honest, no-holds-barred takes on sex, dating, and relationships, Alex has since taken the podcast's popularity into groundbreaking deals with Spotify and, most recently, SiriusXM. But this time, in the Hulu docuseries Call Her Alex, the cameras and the questions turn toward the podcaster herself as she shares surprising revelations about her childhood, her past traumas, and her path to success. childhood, Alex was no stranger to cameras. Her father, Bryan Cooper, was a sports producer for the Philadelphia Flyers. His career, which was not a typical "9-5", was a "normalization," of what Alex thought was the most "incredible, magical" job. "I was enamored with that world," she said. up, Alex didn't have trouble making friends with girls but faced difficulty with the boys. "I was so scared of boys because of the way they treated me," she said. They would comment with insults like, "You look like a skeleton," or that her legs looked "frail." She recalled all she wanted at that time was for them to like her and to feel "wanted" and "desired." naturally a red-head. Her hair color would also incite bullying from the kids at school. school, her home life was a happy one. "I had this really healthy home life," Alex said. "When I was home, I was Alex." As the youngest of four siblings, she was the "loudest one." Hulu / Via She never told her family about being bullied because she was too embarrassed. home, in the safety of her family's basement, she would spend her time making content. She would make videos with friends and even set up a green screen. Kristen Gatti, a childhood friend who made videos with her, shared in the series that they even recreated Devil Wears Prada word for word. Hulu / Via Related: "Rude, Crass, Entitled Piece Of Garbage": People Are Revealing Their Best And Worst Celebrity Encounters, And These Are Genuinely Soooo Fascinating had even taught herself Adobe Premiere at "under 10 years old," said her brother, Grant Cooper. In the safety of the basement, she had full control over the worlds she was creating. It was a place she said she felt "100% myself." childhood passion of Alex's was sports. "Playing sports and making videos in the basement, those were the two things I really loved," she said. 8."I loved being an athlete," said Alex. "It truly allowed me to lean into everything that I liked about myself — being competitive, being determined, having grit." long-time passion for soccer even led to a full tuition scholarship to Boston University, an NCAA Division I school. "I felt this enormous privilege that I was able to carry on and do this." Related: 'It's Always Fat People": 28 Times Celebrities Said Some Really, Really Messed-Up Stuff That Just Flew Under The Radar was an exciting time and a new chapter for Alex. However, in her sophomore year, Alex claims that her coach, Nancy Feldman, started paying "extra attention" to her in a way that she felt was "confusing." The coach, from Alex's perspective, seemed too concerned about Alex's personal life — about who she was dating, making comments about her body, and wanting to be alone with her, Alex alleged. Alex was dropped off at practice by a guy she was seeing, Coach Feldman allegedly asked if she had sex and warned her about sleeping off-campus, which Alex said in the docuseries that her teammates were sleeping off campus too. According to Alex, the coach warned her if she didn't toe the line, that there would be "consequences." Other allegations include a film session, where the team would review playing clips and the coach would comment on Alex's appearance instead of her performance, said Cooper and Alex Schlobohm, a friend and former teammate. Alex S. said, "Whatever reason, every minute that Alex played was highlighted during that film session. It was all based off of her appearance, whereas I felt like when she made comments about other players, it was about their performance." S. was then allegedly kicked off the team by the coach without any reason. According to Alex, the next day, the coach said, 'You see what I just did to your friend? You're not gonna live with her. You're gonna live with who I want you to live with, and you will not be seeing her anymore.' and her parents decided to take it up with the school officials. They allegedly approached the Dean of Athletics with a list of incidents, which they now believed constituted sexual harassment, that Alex's mom had logged since freshman year. But, according to Alex, instead of reviewing the allegations, the school officials asked what Alex wanted from the situation. There would be no conversation about an investigation, the firing of Coach Feldman, or even a reading of the alleged incidents. that, Alex quit the team. "I'm done. I don't ever want to see this woman again," she had said, even though all she had wanted to do was finish her senior year playing the sport that she loved. Both Alex S. and Alex were able to keep their scholarships. graduating from Boston University, where she studied film and television, she moved to New York to pursue a career in film and TV. But she faced difficulty in getting her foot in the door. This led to her starting a YouTube channel, where she put on "creative, weird, fun vlog skits." Hulu / Via she started her podcasting journey, Alex said she experienced "low moments" and "self-doubt," especially when it came to judgment about the podcast's sexual content. "Extended family members thought I was so fucking crazy. Relationships ended in my family because my parents had to stick up for me and say like, 'Oh, she hasn't lost her mind, I promise.'" infamous podcast name, Call Her Daddy, started from a hoodie she bought in college that said "DADDY" on it. husband, Matt Kaplan, is a film and TV producer who she once nicknamed "Mr. Sexy Zoom Man" when they first started dating. According to Alex's mom, he is Alex's first "real" relationship. Alex said that the bullying she experienced led her to think that she would never get married or have kids. She also thought marriage would threaten her independence, but her views changed with Matt. is very important to Alex. Lauren McMullen, who was part of the childhood trio Alex used to make videos with, has been working behind the scenes as a producer for Call Her Daddy. "I can't imagine doing it without her," said Alex. "It's like this crazy synergy that we have together. We'll just be bouncing off each other talking a mile a minute. It just feels so cozy," said Lauren. "I think that's what translates, that it doesn't feel like this corporate sterile washed-down thing. It feels like people who actually really care about this." Alex's growth and why the podcast resonates with millions of listeners, Lauren said, "She could have really used an Alex Cooper back when she was in middle school and high school, and she is now that voice to people who could be her." Have you watched Call Her Alex on Hulu yet? Let us know in the comments. Also in Celebrity: 22 Absolutely Bonkers Things I've Learned About Old Hollywood Celebs That Made My Jaw Hit The Floor Also in Celebrity: This 17-Question IQ Test Will Reveal How Much Celebrity Knowledge You Have Also in Celebrity: 21 Incredible Photos Of Hollywood Legends Back In The Day That I Guarantee You've Never, Ever Seen Before
