What Alex Cooper's Experience In College Was Really Like

Years before Alex Cooper started the "Call Her Daddy" podcast, she was a film and TV student at Boston University, where she also played soccer at the highest level. That said, while she's made it clear that she enjoyed her actual studies and loved being a college athlete, those years weren't exactly rosy. On the contrary, Cooper has shared a few devastating details of what she endured during that time. 

One of Cooper's first comments on what she endured during college came in a 2021 interview with Time. Speaking of an uncomfortable conversation she had with a professor, she explained that he approached her regarding "concerns" he had for her career. "He said, 'I just want to be very honest with you: You're not going to be taken seriously in this industry because of the way you look. So you're actually going to have to work a little bit harder," she recounted. The icks are icking. Unsurprisingly, the wildly inappropriate comment prompted a some serious of self-doubt in the college student. "It was the first moment in my life where I was like, 'Should I dye my hair? Should I wear baggy clothes?'" she told the outlet. 

Sadly, that wasn't the only time the record-breaking podcaster dealt with unprofessional and sexist behavior during her college years. 

A year after speaking about her college professor's comments to Time, Alex Cooper alluded to yet another tragic detail from her university experience. Speaking to The New York Times, she shared that something her soccer coach at Boston University did had contributed to trauma she's still processing to this day. 

Without getting into any specifics, she explained of the incident, "I got a full ride to play, and my senior year I didn't play but I kept my full scholarship. That can kind of indicate where the wrong was done. I got to keep my full scholarship but didn't play because of a situation with the coach." Cooper then clarified things further. "Basically the dean of students and sports came together and said, like, 'What do you want? Because there was inappropriate — yeah. I'm going to tell the story one day," she said, adding that she needed to heal completely before doing so. 

More recently, Cooper opened up about her journey to healing in an interview with Cosmopolitan. Again, without sharing any details, the podcaster shared that part of it included speaking with past teammates who had similar experiences to hers. Of the emotional conversations, Cooper shared that they were definitely helpful in moving forward and just generally getting to a place of feeling more at peace.

Even though it seems Alex Cooper still hasn't healed quite enough to talk openly about her soccer coach's inappropriate behavior, she has said that her desire to empower herself after the experience has played a role in her success today. As she explained in her interview with The New York Times, "I got something I worked for my entire life stripped away because someone in a position of power couldn't control themself. And I did nothing wrong. So what I took was the motivation of feeling like no one will ever again take something away from me just because they're title-wise above me. That ignited something in me."

Cooper added that while the coach's actions (and likely the comment made by her professor, too) could have broken her down, she refused to let that be the case. "If anything it's going to propel me to be like 'Eff you and watch me now succeed,'" she told the outlet. 

Enter, "Call Her Daddy" — the podcast Cooper started specifically to show herself and others that there was no need to be made uncomfortable by something others did or said. Also known as the podcast that saw her sign a $60 million deal with Spotify in 2021 and interview some of the world's biggest stars. As for the soccer coach at the time of this writing, no one knows who they are. 

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).