Call Her Daddy was originally hosted by two best friends. Then their relationship imploded.

In 2018, roommates Alexandra Cooper and Sofia Franklyn began a podcast from their New York City apartment.

While on mic, the 20-something roommates shared intimate details of their sex lives with anyone who would listen — from advice about giving a good blowjob to drunken stories centered around their close friendship, virtually no topic was off-limits.

The podcast, named Call Her Daddy, shot to notoriety within two months of its inception, quickly becoming one of the top 20 most popular shows on Apple Podcasts.

It seemed the pair were on top of the world, signing a three-year contract with US media conglomerate Barstool Sports who, according to a blog post from Cooper, "liked the idea of uncensored, real, female locker room talk, which quite frankly is just as nasty as guy locker room talk".

But, in May 2020, the cult sensation imploded. After weeks of rumours, the behind-the-scenes drama between Cooper, Franklyn and Barstool Sports creator Dave Portnoy hit the fan.

Watch: Catherine Paiz on 'Call Her Daddy'. Post continues after video.

The drama first began back in April 2020, when the podcast missed three of its usual weekly uploads. With fans getting confused and restless, the pair shared a message on their Instagram account.

"No new episode this week," they wrote. "Finally, the trail will be revealed."

When yet another week passed without an episode, the two girls shared another update, writing: "We are always 100 per cent transparent with the Daddy Gang but legally we can't speak out yet. What we will say is… we will never f**king leave you Daddy Gang. The minute we can speak, we will."

In the days after sharing the update on Instagram, Page Six reported that Cooper and Franklyn had stopped recording as they wanted to cut ties with Barstool Sports, who they had signed a three-year contract with.

According to the publication, the pair hoped to cease their contract early, in order to pursue other opportunities such as book and TV deals, which they couldn't yet access under Barstool Sports.

Speaking to Page Six, a Barstool Sports representative responded to the reports, sharing that Alex and Sofia had been given "significant raises" by Barstool.

"In the case of Call Her Daddy, we took a risk on unproven talent and put the full resources of Barstool Sports and our million-dollar marketing machine behind them to make them huge," the rep said.

"The goal with all of our talent here, including Alex and Sofia, is that at the end of their contract, their personal brands are worth far more than when they started."

Call Her Daddy was once co-hosted by Alex Cooper and Sofia Franklyn. Image: Instagram.

Just weeks later, however, New York Post reported that Cooper and Franklyn were no longer on speaking terms.

"They've completely turned on each other and started arguing over who was the real talent and who did most of the heavy lifting [for the podcast].

"I think their audience would be surprised to learn what has been going on behind the scenes with them. It's not the loyal fun-loving friendship they put out there."

It's believed Cooper and Franklyn's feud stemmed from interference from Franklyn's then-boyfriend, HBO Sports executive vice president Peter Nelson, who had been "shopping" the pair around to potential buyers even though they were still under contract with Barstool.

Speaking to the New York Post, Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy shared that he pitched the co-hosts a significant raise, in the hopes of getting them to finish their three-year contract.

"We offered them mid-to-high six-figure salaries and a way for them to get the intellectual property," he said. "We offered them substantial raises just to get to get them to honour their existing contract."

But while Cooper reportedly wanted to take the deal, Franklyn followed the advice of her boyfriend and refused it.

"They're definitely estranged right now. A lot of it is Peter's doing," a source claimed, speaking to New York Post.

Finally, Dave Portnoy took matters into his own hands, releasing a podcast episode in the Call Her Daddy feed. (Yep, he called them out on their own podcast.)

In the 30-minute episode, Portnoy shared that Barstool Sports would sue the two girls if they didn't fulfil their contract.

"Barstool's stance was, if you guys take Call Her Daddy and go somewhere else, we're going to sue the f—k out of you. Like, you're under a three-year contract," he said.

After confirming reports that the pair had been attempting to take the podcast somewhere else, Dave shared that the company had been losing $100,000 for every missed episode.

He also said that Cooper and Franklyn had both taken home almost $500,000 each last year.

"They weren't getting f—king dirt money. It was written into their contract that they were getting paid bonuses on their downloads. Their downloads are huge," he explained.

"So they went from unknown talent – that we took a risk on – to making close to half a million dollars each a year."

Me hearing Dave disclose Alex and Sofia’s salary after listening to them talk about being poor on the podcast for months #callherdaddy pic.twitter.com/xYORPQltaN

— mishapisha (@GrandSicily) May 18, 2020

Dave's comments came as a surprise to fans as the two hosts had frequently spoken about being "broke" and "poor" while working on the podcast.

In an attempt to keep the pair at Barstool, Portnoy said that the pair were offered a guaranteed $500,000 each, plus bonuses. He would also knock six months off their contract, and allow them to walk away in the end with their intellectual property.

"It was a no-brainer deal," he said.

Then, Franklyn responded to the drama on her Instagram Stories.

"I found out that Alex had gone behind my back and done something and I found out that it wasn't the first time. And that's why we're here," she said. "I trusted Alex, I feel betrayed, but ultimately she was my best friend and that doesn't change overnight.

"I'm willing to do Call Her Daddy, I really am. I just can't do it under the circumstances that she wants. I can't do it while she's demanding that she controls the show. I don't want to be, like, her employee. We are partners."

On the same day, Portnoy announced new Call Her Daddy merch featuring the slogan "cancel suitman", in reference to Sofia's boyfriend.

In May 2020, Cooper released her first solo Call Her Daddy episode after parting ways with Franklyn, which divulged all the details about the dramatic split.

Alex Cooper went solo on Call Her Daddy in 2020. Image: Instagram/@alexandracooper

"The last back-and-forth, big communication I had with Sofia was f—king awful," Cooper, now 30, said. "She said some things to me that I can't imagine ever saying to a friend."

Franklyn went on to launch her own podcast called Sofia with an F, whilst Cooper has continued with Call Her Daddy, most recently signing a $125 million deal to exclusively present the podcast on Sirius XM.

But now, instead of speaking about her own life, she interviews celebrities about theirs.

Over the years, Cooper has been joined by the likes of former United States Vice President Kamala Harris, Khloé Kardashian, Chappell Roan, Zayn Malik, Hailey Bieber, and more.

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Her documentary Call Her Alex hit screens today, which shares new details of her and Franklyn's friendship fallout.

"It became really difficult to enjoy the process," Cooper says in the doco. "It was the classic you think you see something online, and people genuinely believed we were like sisters, but our relationship was so awful."

She also addresses the drama surrounding her and Sofia's contracts and salaries.

"We absolutely deserved more money, but unfortunately, we had signed a three-year contract with Barstool Sports, and they owned our IP," Cooper said.

"Sofia and I went in together, and we renegotiated our contacts. Dave ended up offering us what I considered the deal of a lifetime."

She added: "He said, 'If you stay at Barstool for one more year, you can own Call Her Daddy.' Sofia didn't want to take the deal but I did. So I stayed."

This article was originally published in 2020 and has since been updated.

Feature Image: Getty.