Alex Cooper's Unwell Network Bleeds Talent While Husband Screams at Staff

Alex Cooper’s podcast empire is unraveling. Bloomberg reports that Unwell Network, the company behind Call Her Daddy and a slate of lifestyle shows, has lost its head of brand marketing, head of network, and chief growth officer in the past year. The Boston Globe adds that these departures follow a pattern: executives arrive, try to scale the business, then leave after clashes with management.

The bleeding isn’t limited to the C-suite. Multiple Bloomberg sources describe a workplace where staff regularly cry after meetings and update their LinkedIn profiles in real time. Yahoo Finance summarizes the situation bluntly: “employees [are] looking for the exit.”

Hollywood producer Matt Kaplan, Cooper’s husband and co-CEO, has become the face of the crisis. According to the New York Post, Kaplan “berated staff” during a recent all-hands, reducing a veteran crew member to tears. Bloomberg’s sources say he “frequently yells” at employees and has threatened careers when questioned.

When the couple skipped their own emergency team meeting last week, staff interpreted the absence as confirmation that leadership was avoiding accountability. The Daily Beast notes that Kaplan’s dual role as spouse and boss creates an “untouchable” dynamic that makes HR interventions nearly impossible.

The public drama with TikTok star Alix Earle is both symptom and accelerant. Variety reported Tuesday that Unwell is dropping Earle’s “Hot Mess” podcast, ending a partnership that was supposed to anchor the network’s expansion into influencer-hosted shows. Bloomberg frames the split as part of a broader “sputtering slate” of underperforming launches.

Sources tell the Sydney Morning Herald that Earle and Cooper’s feud is “more than a catfight”, it’s a referendum on whether Unwell can manage talent who have their own massive audiences. When Earle’s team demanded more creative control, Kaplan allegedly refused, triggering the breakup and a wave of negative TikTok coverage that damaged Unwell’s brand among Gen Z listeners.

The company’s founding story highlights the mismatch between ambition and execution. Per the Boston Globe, Cooper and Kaplan launched parent company Trending in 2023 to merge her Gen Z audience with his film/TV expertise. The pitch to investors was simple: turn Cooper’s 25 million monthly listeners into a media conglomerate spanning podcasts, TV, and merchandise.

Reality has been messier. Advertising revenue plateaued last fall while production costs soared. Yahoo Finance reports that Kaplan’s film-style budgets for audio shows created a cash crunch just as Spotify and Amazon began trimming podcast deals. Meanwhile, Cooper’s on-air persona, raw, unfiltered, chaos-friendly, collides with Kaplan’s traditional Hollywood management style. Staff describe the culture as “two worlds smashing together.”

Industry analysts expect either a sale or a hard pivot. Bloomberg notes that rival networks like Wondery and Ramble have quietly explored acquisition talks, valuing Call Her Daddy’s back catalog at roughly $60 million but discounting the rest of the slate due to talent instability. Insiders suggest Cooper may retreat to a solo show while Kaplan focuses on ACE Entertainment’s film projects.

The immediate test comes next month when Unwell’s flagship new series, a dating advice show hosted by rising TikToker Monet McMichael, launches. If McMichael’s audience doesn’t convert to audio, staff predict layoffs. One departing executive told the Globe: “Right now it’s a race between the content calendar and the burn rate.”

The Unwell meltdown follows a familiar pattern. Just as Joe Rogan’s Spotify deal triggered a wave of over-leveraged creator companies, Cooper’s early success convinced investors that personality-driven networks could scale like tech startups. Bloomberg’s analysis suggests the medium’s economics simply don’t support that model: production costs rise linearly while ad revenue plateaus after the first breakout hit.

The difference is timing. Spotify and Amazon’s pullback means there’s no safety net this cycle. When Call Her Daddy’s contract expires in 2027, Cooper will likely face a buyer’s market unless she stabilizes the operation. As one former Unwell producer put it: “We’re watching what happens when hype meets payroll.”

Unwell’s struggles illustrate a larger shift. The creator economy’s gold rush phase, where platforms threw nine-figure deals at individual podcasters, appears over. Sources tell Bloomberg that venture firms are now demanding traditional media metrics: consistent quarterly growth, diversified revenue, and professional management.

For creators, the lesson is stark. Cooper built one of the most successful podcasts of the decade, but expanding into a multi-show network required skills that don’t scale from a bedroom microphone. As the Boston Globe concludes: “Talent isn’t management, and fame isn’t a business model.”