Alix Earle has finally opened up about her highly discussed fallout with Alex Cooper, revealing her side of the story in the first season of her Netflix reality series Earle Meets World. The social media star said she wanted to address the controversy on her own terms rather than allow online speculation to define what happened between the two.
Earle’s professional association with Cooper began in 2023, when she joined The Unwell Network and launched her podcast Hot Mess. The partnership ended in early 2025, with no detailed public explanation from either side at the time.
What followed was months of online speculation, indirect social media exchanges and renewed public interest in their relationship. Earle had largely avoided discussing the matter in detail until now.
Speaking to TODAY.com ahead of the Netflix show’s release, Earle explained that the controversy naturally became part of the series because it unfolded while cameras were filming.
“It just kind of naturally got brought up, and was a natural thing happening in my life, and we decided to just lean into it,” she said.
Why Did Alix Earle and Alex Cooper Fall Out?
The precise circumstances surrounding the breakdown of their relationship remain disputed.
Earle and Cooper initially appeared to have a strong professional connection. Earle had been a fan of Cooper before joining her media company, and appearing on Call Her Daddy in 2023 was something Earle had reportedly hoped for.
However, Earle now says that her perception of their relationship changed over time.
In the premiere of Earle Meets World, Earle told her father, TJ Earle, who also manages her career, that she had believed Cooper would act as a mentor figure.
“That was on my dream board for years, I was like, ‘Yay!’ It felt very personal, like she was going to be an older sister and look out for me,” Earle said.
She claimed that Cooper’s position as an older and more established creator made her trust the relationship, adding that she eventually felt that her admiration had been used against her.
These are Earle’s allegations and account of the relationship; Cooper has not publicly endorsed those claims.
Alix Earle Recalls Her ‘Call Her Daddy’ Experience
One of the most emotional parts of Earle’s account concerns her 2023 appearance on Call Her Daddy.
Earle said she had been excited to appear on the podcast but later felt uncomfortable with the direction of some of the conversation.
She recalled being asked highly personal questions and said she did not feel comfortable discussing certain subjects. According to Earle, alcohol was also involved during the recording.
In the Netflix series, she described feeling that she had been “taken advantage of and used and mistreated and manipulated.”
Her appearance on the podcast also involved discussion of her family’s history, including her father’s widely publicised affair with Ashley Dupré.
Earle said revisiting those events publicly had a significant emotional impact on her and her family.
Dupré appears in the Netflix series as well, where she and Earle discuss the consequences of the podcast episode and the effect it had on their family relationships.
Earle said the fallout became serious enough that the family group chat was deleted and that they eventually needed therapy to begin communicating about what had happened.
What Happened With Alix Earle and Unwell Network?
Earle’s professional relationship with Unwell Network ended in 2025, when her podcast was dropped from the network.
At the time, neither side publicly provided an extensive explanation for the decision.
In the Earle Meets World finale, Earle offered her perspective on the partnership, describing the company as a startup that struggled with operational issues.
She said the reality of working with the network did not match what she had expected when she agreed to the deal.
“It wasn’t run properly and it wasn’t what I was promised or told that it was going to be like working with them,” Earle said.
Her father also discussed the business arrangement from a management perspective. He claimed that Earle had been handling much of the podcast’s production herself, including travelling with recording equipment.
According to his account, revenue generated by the podcast was offset by expenses before the remaining profit was divided between Earle and Unwell.
These comments represent the Earle family’s account of the business relationship. The series does not establish the claims as independently verified facts.
Alex Cooper Had Previously Addressed the Online Speculation
The tension became increasingly visible online in 2026.
In April, Cooper publicly addressed what she described as passive-aggressive social media activity involving Earle. Cooper said she had been seeing videos, comments, direct messages and tags connected to the situation and decided it was time to respond.
She directly called out Earle over what she characterised as reposts, likes and comments.
Earle subsequently responded briefly with “Ok on it!!”
When Earle later appeared on TODAY in May, she described the situation as having been exaggerated online.
The two women therefore presented noticeably different perspectives on what had happened, while much of the discussion continued to unfold through social media.
Alix Earle Reveals the Message She Never Sent
Perhaps the most striking moment in Earle Meets World comes when Earle reveals that she had drafted a lengthy message to Cooper but ultimately decided not to send it.
Earle discussed the message with her father and Ashley Dupré before reading it aloud.
The draft was highly critical of Cooper. Earle accused her former business associate of being manipulative and claimed she had prioritised money over personal values.
She also alleged that Cooper had made threats during a conversation after their relationship deteriorated.
Those claims are Earle’s allegations, and the existence of the draft does not independently establish the accusations contained in it.
Ultimately, Earle chose not to send the message.
That decision appears significant because it reflects the dilemma at the heart of her response: she wanted to tell her side of the story without turning the dispute into an ongoing public exchange.
Why Did Alix Earle Include the Feud in Her Netflix Show?
Earle said she did not want her reality series to deliberately avoid an important period in her life simply because it was complicated or uncomfortable.
“I didn’t want to put out a show where we’re skipping over a chunk of time because I wanted to hold myself back,” she told TODAY.com.
Instead, she wanted audiences to see what was happening behind the scenes and, particularly, how her family helped her make difficult decisions.
Earle’s father plays an important role in the series, while her family’s involvement gives viewers a perspective that is different from the polished version of events often seen on social media.
She explained that dealing with controversy at such a large scale can make even a seemingly simple decision about posting online feel overwhelming.
The reality show therefore provides a look at the conversations that happen before something reaches the public.
Alix Earle Says She Has ‘Closed That Chapter’
Despite revealing significant details about the dispute, Earle insists that her intention is not to keep the feud alive.
She said she does not necessarily want to establish a definitive winner or turn the situation into a point-by-point argument.
“I don’t even think it’s really about, like, giving a definitive answer, or getting into it like a ‘he said, she said,’ or like, point by point,” Earle said.
“I said my piece, and I have closed that chapter.”
For Earle, that may ultimately be the most important takeaway from the Netflix series.
Rather than continuing an online back-and-forth, she has used her own platform to explain how she experienced the breakdown of a relationship that once represented an important professional opportunity.
