A bombshell new éxposé claims that Alex Cooper’s husband, Matt Kaplan, has fostered an allegedly “toxic work environment” at The Unwell Network.
“Behind the scenes, there’s this man, her husband, running around wreaking havoc and making people cry, cower [in] fear,” an anonymous Unwell freelancer claimed to Vanity Fair in a Friday, June 12, report, with another source alleging that Kaplan, 42, has berated young female employees for miniscule mistakes to the point of tears.
Another former employee claimed that Kaplan screams “the nastiest things” to staffers while Cooper, 31, has stood beside him, “not defending anyone.”
Cooper launched Unwell in 2023 with Kaplan, whom she married in 2024, after becoming the sole owner of the “Call Her Daddy” podcast. (Cooper initially cohosted the podcast with Sofia Franklyn under Barstool Sports’ umbrella.)
Things at Alex Cooper’s Unwell Network appear to be, well, unwell, according to a new report. A Bloomberg article published on Monday, April 20, alleged that Cooper’s podcast network has seen a dramatic turnover in staff over the past two years. The piece also claimed that Cooper’s husband, film and TV producer Matt Kaplan, who […]
Neither Cooper nor Kaplan, who are currently expecting their first baby, have publicly addressed the accusations. Us Weekly has reached out for comment.
A source close to Cooper tells Us, “[The Vanity Fair reporter] has a clear agenda here and has since she began reporting this story. She went to great lengths to get dirt for this story, but doesn’t include any mention of how many people spoke positively about Unwell, Matt and Alex.”
The lengthy Vanity Fair profile interviewed multiple former Unwell employees, many who claimed that Kaplan made staffers cry or appeared to make flirtatious comments by openly asking about their sex lives. Vanity Fair did not interview any Unwell staffer on record. Us reached out to the reporter for comment.
“I’ve heard him in the office be like to employees, ‘Who did you have sex with this weekend?’ ” a former employee alleged, as others claim that Kaplan also comments on staffers he finds “hot” versus overweight.
“[He] was definitely a flirty guy, but [I] can’t say that I felt uncomfortable,” another woman claimed, with another adding they would “cry every day.”
Cooper and Kaplan are business partners at Unwell.
Alex Cooper and husband Matt Kaplan appeared unbothered by recent drama while stepping out for a rare red carpet appearance. The couple attended the YouTube Brandcast event at Lincoln Center in New York City on Wednesday, May 13. Cooper, 31, posed alongside Kaplan, 42, with his hand on her hip as they posed for photos […]
“When Unwell started, it was so different than what it is today,” Cooper explained on a March episode of the “Burnouts” podcast, whose own contract at Unwell recently ended. “When it started, at its core, it was just this little media company where Matt and I were merging our companies.”
Kaplan ran a film and TV production company amid his early relationship with Cooper. Instead of selling the firm, he opted to merge with Cooper as she launched her podcast studio.
“He realized that there was such a turn happening in media where it would be more advantageous to hold on to it and to grow different verticals because essentially media companies now are so different [from] what they used to be,” Cooper said at the time. “We put Unwell together, which is basically our film and television department and Matt’s entire finance and production backend, and then also my podcast knowledge of wanting to launch a podcast network.”
Cooper further stressed her intentions to run a women-led company.
“Matt works with all women. It’s so funny … every single day I’ll walk in and it’s Matt and then it’s all women,” Cooper explained. “It has been such a journey, and I will say, starting as a startup, … you have a vision when you’re hiring [for] exactly the role you need and then as you grow what you hired that person for as your company grows the role changes. I give a lot of credit to a lot of our executives who have been able to be really nimble and mold themselves throughout the years.”
