Alex Cooper isn’t afraid to go there with guests on her hugely popular and extremely frank podcast, Call Her Daddy. But there’s one part of her life she hasn’t spoken publicly about, until now: In her new Hulu docuseries, Call Her Alex, Cooper alleges that she was sexually harassed by her college soccer coach at Boston University, Nancy Feldman. The harassment was so severe, she says in the series, that she quit the team before her senior year.
In part one of the series, which debuted at Tribeca Festival on Sunday, June 8, Cooper alleges that her coach began “fixating” on her, “way more than any other teammate of mine.”
She recalled that her coach’s interest “was all based in her wanting to know who I was dating, her making comments about my body and her always wanting to be alone with me.” At one point, Cooper alleges, Feldman pulled her aside to scold her for spending the night off campus, and to ask if Cooper had had sex the night before.
“It was this psychotic game of, ‘You want to play? Tell me about your sex life,’” Cooper said in the documentary. “I felt so deeply uncomfortable.” Glamour has reached out to both Feldman and Boston University for comment.
During a panel following the screening alongside Call Her Alex director Ry Russo Young, Cooper explained why it had taken her 10 years to come forward with the allegations of misconduct.
“I still feel so small,” Cooper told moderator Orna Guralnik, a clinical psychologist and host of Couples Therapy on Showtime. “Part of why I struggled [coming forward] was because the person who abused their power over me and harassed me is a woman. I really struggled with that for a really long time because I didn’t want [the story] to undermine everything I stand for: Fuck the patriarchy, fuck misogyny.”
She recalls wondering, “will this take away from the message?” but has since gained the confidence to tell her story. “It is a position of power and if someone is abusing it, it’s wrong. Full stop,” said Cooper. “It doesn’t matter what sex, full stop.”
The Unwell founder choked up as she added, “I’m just happy I got that out there, but I still feel anxious.” The largely female audience, many self-identified members of “Daddy Gang,” gave her a roaring round of applause as she wiped away tears.
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