4 days ago
Call Her Daddy's Alex Cooper dated sugar daddies for cash before making millions on her podcast
Call Her Daddy co-creator Alex Cooper is currently the highest-earning female podcaster, having signed a $125M three-year contract with Sirius XM last year, but her financial situation was far more dire just eight years ago.
The sex-positive podcaster - turning 31 next week - used to rely on the cash she acquired through dates with sugar daddies she met on SeekingArrangement (rebranded as in 2022) to pay the rent on her New York City apartment.
Alex - who had recently graduated from Boston University - was surviving on unemployment checks after being laid off from her ad-sales job at Gotham magazine when she turned to wealthy benefactors.
'The goal was I never wanted to do anything with these men,' Cooper explained on her podcast in 2020.
'It was just to go get drinks and dinner, and by the end of the night have enough money for rent.'
The Unwell founder would enlist a friend to sit in the back of the bar to make sure she was okay: 'We did crazy fun s*** like that, though in retrospect, I want everyone to be careful. I don't even know if you should be on that site.'
Call Her Daddy co-creator Alex Cooper is currently the highest-earning female podcaster, having signed a $125M three-year contract with Sirius XM last year, but her financial situation was far more dire just eight years ago (pictured June 8)
In 2021, Alex told TIME she had no regrets about sugar dating: 'Those hotel moments, or whatever, they all taught me something. And yes, of course, the caliber I was doing it, people maybe think of that as aspirational. But we all go through our s***. But you're going to be able to figure it out.'
But Cooper left all the toxic situationships behind in 2020 when she began dating 'Mr. Sexy Zoom Man' aka XO, Kitty producer Matthew Kaplan, whom she wed 16 months ago.
Last summer, the Call Her Alex star proudly bought her parents a house near their $10.7M Studio City home, so they could have weekly dinners.
Alex had been emotionally scarred in 2004 when her father Bryan Cooper lost his job due to an NHL labor lockout, telling Vogue on Tuesday: 'I remember he was posting flyers around the neighborhood to help repair computers.'
Cooper's mother Laurie Cooper is a psychologist, but her practice 'wasn't enough to sustain a five-person household' at the time.
'I understood money came with an opportunity to care for people around you,' the Pennsylvania-born blonde noted.
Alex - who's ranked No. 5 on Forbes Top-Earning Creators list - previously earned over $1.5M during her three-year deal with Barstool Sports in 2018 as well as a $60M three-year deal with Spotify in 2021.
Cooper explained on her podcast in 2020 (pictured): 'The goal was I never wanted to do anything with these men. It was just to go get drinks and dinner, and by the end of the night have enough money for rent'
The Unwell founder would enlist a friend to sit in the back of the bar to make sure she was okay: 'We did crazy fun s*** like that, though in retrospect, I want everyone to be careful. I don't even know if you should be on that site'
In 2021, Alex told TIME she had no regrets about sugar dating: 'Those hotel moments, or whatever, they all taught me something. And yes, of course, the caliber I was doing it, people maybe think of that as aspirational. But we all go through our s***. But you're going to be able to figure it out'
Cooper has interviewed everyone from Vice President Kamala Harris to Jane Fonda to Gwyneth Paltrow to Hailey Bieber on her podcast.
'I think almost every person that's ever walked out after an interview has been like, "I have never been more comfortable in an interview in my entire career,"' the self-taught presenter explained.
'And that comes with not trying to come off as this hard-a** interviewer.'
