Alex Cooper

Summary

Podcast Summary: Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard – Episode Featuring Alex Cooper

Introduction

In this heartfelt and candid episode of Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard, host Dax Shepard is joined by co-host Monica Padman to welcome Alex Cooper, the renowned host of the popular podcast Call Her Daddy. The episode delves deep into Alex's personal journey, highlighting her new Hulu docu-series "Call Her Alex," which premiered on June 10, 2025. This documentary offers an intimate look into Alex's struggles, growth, and the pivotal moments that shaped her into the influential figure she is today.

Alex Cooper's Background

Alex Cooper opens up about her tumultuous childhood and adolescence, marked by bullying and struggles with self-image. As a redhead with pale skin, she faced relentless teasing and physical harassment during her middle school years. Reflecting on her past, Alex shares:

"When I look back at pictures of myself, it wasn't that bad... But when I got to sixth grade and boys and everything started to change, I became aware of how I was being perceived as ugly." (23:10)

This early trauma led her to adopt coping mechanisms, such as altering her appearance and creating a facade to mask her insecurities.

The Harassment Experience

A significant portion of the episode focuses on Alex's harrowing experience with sexual harassment by her college soccer coach, Nancy Feldman. While excelling in soccer, Alex found herself subjected to inappropriate one-on-one sessions that gradually escalated from coaching to harassment. She recounts:

"Towards the end of our fall freshman semester, I started to feel her just coming over to me at practice more and asking how I was doing. I thought she was investing in me, but it became excessive." (45:03)

As the harassment intensified, Alex faced isolation tactics designed to control her both on and off the field. Her reluctance to report the misconduct stemmed from fear of retaliation and the potential loss of her scholarship. The situation culminated in a dramatic confrontation with the dean of athletics, where despite presenting documented evidence, the administration chose to side with Feldman, leaving Alex with no option but to quit the team.

"We requested a meeting with the dean of athletics... He won't open the book. He just looks at me and says, 'What do you want?'” (59:27)

Reporting and Aftermath

Despite Alex's bravery in coming forward, the university's response was dismissive, reinforcing her feelings of powerlessness and betrayal. This experience not only ended her soccer career but also strained her relationships with teammates and friends who felt powerless to intervene. Alex reflects on the broader implications:

"When you have an abuse of power, it's a ton on top of that victim. You have to climb Mount Everest and more to even feel like you have a sliver of a hope to be believed and actually be protected if you come forward." (64:52)

Making of the Documentary

Alex discusses the creation of "Call Her Alex," emphasizing that the documentary was initially intended to showcase her professional journey but evolved into a personal exposé of her past abuses. The process of filming brought back painful memories, compelling her to confront and share her story publicly. She states:

"I felt so small. Being back on Nickerson Field transported me right back to it. I have done years of therapy, but this still is so painful and lives in me." (66:35)

The documentary not only serves as a memoir but also aims to shed light on systemic issues related to abuse of power in sports and other institutions.

Current and Future Projects

Beyond the documentary, Alex reveals her upcoming venture—a dating show slated to film in Malta, tentatively titled "Overboard for Love." This project signifies her desire to explore new creative avenues and reclaim her narrative through empowering content.

"It's a working title right now, but basically it's 'Overboard for Love.' All on a yacht in Malta. I'm so excited." (85:26)

Mental Health and Therapy

Throughout the episode, the importance of therapy and mental health support is a recurring theme. Both Alex and Dax share their own experiences with therapy, underscoring the role it played in their healing and personal growth.

"I'm a man. I've benefited greatly from therapy and BetterHelp is a great option if you're looking to start therapy." (68:01)

Conclusion

The episode culminates in a moving discussion about resilience, the courage to speak out, and the ongoing journey toward self-acceptance. Alex Cooper's story is a testament to overcoming adversity and using one's platform to effect change and support others facing similar struggles.

"I'm so proud of myself for telling this story. I could have made it a docu-series. There's so much more to this, but I really think it is such a huge part of why I am the way I am and why I have the conversations I do on my podcast." (75:00)

Notable Quotes

• "When I look back at pictures of myself, it wasn't that bad... But when I got to sixth grade and boys and everything started to change, I became aware of how I was being perceived as ugly." – Alex Cooper (23:10)
• "We requested a meeting with the dean of athletics... He won't open the book. He just looks at me and says, 'What do you want?'" – Alex Cooper (59:27)
• "When you have an abuse of power, it's a ton on top of that victim. You have to climb Mount Everest and more to even feel like you have a sliver of a hope to be believed and actually be protected if you come forward." – Alex Cooper (64:52)
• "I'm so proud of myself for telling this story. I could have made it a docu-series. There's so much more to this, but I really think it is such a huge part of why I am the way I am and why I have the conversations I do on my podcast." – Alex Cooper (75:00)

Final Thoughts

This episode of Armchair Expert is a profound exploration of personal trauma, resilience, and the power of storytelling. Alex Cooper's openness offers listeners a deep understanding of the challenges she faced and her ongoing commitment to healing and advocacy. The episode not only highlights her professional achievements but also paints a poignant picture of her personal battles and triumphs.

For those interested in learning more about Alex Cooper's story, watching her Hulu docu-series "Call Her Alex" is highly recommended.

Transcript

[Dax Shepard]

Wondry plus subscribers can listen to Armchair Expert early and ad free right now. Join Wondry plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts or you can listen for free wherever you get your podcasts. Welcome, welcome, welcome to Armchair Expert. I'm Dax Shepard and I'm joined by Monica Padman.

[Monica Padman]

Hi.

[Dax Shepard]

And we have a peer on today, Alex Cooper, who's the host of Call Her Daddy. Unless you were born within the last eight hours, you know, call her Daddy. That's her great podcast. She's here today to talk about her new docu series premiering on Hulu June 10, called call her Alex. And it's an awesome documentary. I really, really loved it. It was very special to learn so much about someone that I just know socially and I like. And this is a very special episode.

[Monica Padman]

It is.

[Dax Shepard]

I felt very, very, very grateful for how open and lovely she was.

[Monica Padman]

Me too.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, it's fantastic. Please enjoy our friend Alex Cooper.

[Monica Padman]

Get into your body's vitals with the.

[Alex Cooper]

Vitals app on Apple Watch. The Vitals app tracks key overnight metrics so you can spot changes in your.

[Monica Padman]

Health before you feel them.

[Alex Cooper]

The Vitals app ON Apple Watch iPhone.

[Monica Padman]

XS are later required.

[Alex Cooper]

The Vitals app is for wellness purposes only and not for medical use.

[Dax Shepard]

This message is brought to you by Apple Card. Apply for Apple Card today and start earning up to 3% daily cash back on everyday purchases. And that daily cash can even grow automatically when you open a high yield savings account through Apple Card. What are you waiting for? Visit Apple co card calculator today to see how much daily cash you can earn. Subject to credit approval. Savings available to Apple Card owners subject to eligibility. Savings and Apple Card by Goldman Sachs Bank USA member FDIC terms and [e-mail] he's an object.

[Alex Cooper]

He's an option.

[Dax Shepard]

He's an Orna's in it.

[Alex Cooper]

How good is she?

[Dax Shepard]

We love Orna.

[Monica Padman]

It's coming back on Friday. It's back.

[Alex Cooper]

Oh, do you want to know something?

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Alex Cooper]

I'm so in the inn. I already watched it. Stop.

[Monica Padman]

You got advanced screener.

[Alex Cooper]

You got screenies. Yeah, but it was annoying because it had my email right in the middle and so it was constantly covering everyone's eyes. But I'm that much of a crazy person addicted to that show that I was like, I don't even care. I'm gonna watch it like this.

[Dax Shepard]

You're not the person I met who has her as a therapist, are you?

[Alex Cooper]

Oh, my God, no. But I definitely joked to her, being like or no. Come on. And she's like, no, Alex, it's full conflict of interest. I'm like, but what if we just did, like, a session? Yeah. The way she, like, leans forward is.

[Monica Padman]

Like her one brain.

[Alex Cooper]

She's so chic and beautiful.

[Dax Shepard]

She's like the hottest woman alive.

[Alex Cooper]

She has this aura about her that you can't stop staring at her. And Matt thinks I'm insane because I binge the whole thing. Like, I do a day where I just sit. And he's like, I like therapy, but I'm not that into therapy. Like, you're fucking insane.

[Dax Shepard]

It's not a sport.

[Alex Cooper]

No, but I love it.

[Monica Padman]

There's something voyeuristic about it. That show specifically because it's like this, where you're peeking in.

[Alex Cooper]

I love therapy so much. I could just sit all day and watch anyone in their own session.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, have you ever listened to Esther Perel's Mating in Captivity? Similar. Like, wow. I can't believe I get to hear this. And I'm so delighted to hear it.

[Alex Cooper]

I know. I paused on my therapy recently because she was my therapist in New York. I was just getting to the point. I'm like, I think I need to do in person. I really have missed it. And so I haven't had a therapist for a couple months. And Matt the other day was like, I'm going to therapy. Do you want to come? Joking. And I was like, wait? Yeah. And he was like, wait, really? And I was like, yeah. So his therapist is two blocks away from our office. So we walk there, and we go into a couple's therapy session together with his therapist.

[Dax Shepard]

I just showed up kind of unannounced.

[Alex Cooper]

Yes. And she was like, nice to meet you. Which then I thought, how big of a mind fuck for a therapist? Oh, my God. I'd be like, the person that your client just talks about all the time. I'm like, it's me. Hello. And she's like, oh, my God, the monster is here.

[Monica Padman]

I just had a huge kind of issue with this. I have a therapist I love. If you need her, I can recommend.

[Alex Cooper]

Just give her to me.

[Monica Padman]

Incredible.

[Dax Shepard]

But she's Zoom as well, so. Same. Ish.

[Monica Padman]

You might be able to see her in person. I just don't. But anyway, she's incredible. And I had a friend who wanted a therapist, and so I reached out to her to get a recommendation. This whole thing ensued where basically my friend ended up calling my therapist to ask her for a recommendation. And I panicked when I heard this information. I was like, you can't that is such a boundary cross. You can't just go call my therapist. It's kind of crazy asking. And then we had to have a whole conversation about it. And she was like, yeah, I really shouldn't have done it.

[Alex Cooper]

But the thing that I empathize 1% about that. Cause that is not appropriate. But it's hard to find a good therapist. So when you have a friend that has one, you're like, no, you better either share or tell me someone that she recommends, because it's all by word of mouth. It's hard.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. But hold on. Monica.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So would you say this flies under kind of a jealousy umbrella?

[Monica Padman]

Uh, it's an intimacy. She knows more about me than anyone on earth, truly.

[Dax Shepard]

Including you, probably.

[Monica Padman]

Right?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly as they do in four minutes. Right.

[Monica Padman]

And it's a bit of a longer story. I did get a recommendation for this person. I gave it. And then that person didn't call my friend back. So then they asked me again to check in again. And I was like, no, she's done her job. I'm not gonna keep doing that. And then there was a. I'm gonna find my way.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm going through my mental Rolodex of your friends to decide who's that entitled that they were like, wait, they didn't call. I need a call back.

[Monica Padman]

To be fair, I had compassion for this. This person has never had a therapist. Doesn't really understand.

[Alex Cooper]

She's learning the boundaries.

[Dax Shepard]

But let me ask you this. Would you be opposed to a good friend of yours just using your therapist? Is that an issue for you?

[Monica Padman]

I guess it depends on the person. If it's someone I'm talking about a ton, that's probably a no.

[Dax Shepard]

Would you care?

[Alex Cooper]

I wouldn't care unless that person was a focal point in my life where I really talked about them in therapy. Because I have friends that I've never even mentioned in therapy. And then I have friends who I talk about incessantly. So it depends where you are on that scale?

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

No. Okay, great. So would your fear be. There's a couple options. So your fear would be somehow your therapist would leak these complaints to your friend who's now seen her. And I don't think that's it. Or I think deeper might be my therapist is going to see this person, meet them, and realize I'm nuts, that I have so many issues with them. Is it either of those?

[Alex Cooper]

You know what? No. It's more that I would be nervous that she wouldn't be able to do her job correctly. Because in some capacity as a therapist, you are in this little vortex where you're taking in the information that they're solely giving you. Everyone has their own perspective in life, and so I would worry that if I was saying something negative about this person and then this person was talking in a way that wasn't congruent with what I had said, she would just have a hard time being like, well, who the fuck is right? Who the fuck is wrong? So I just would worry it would make her life hard. And I want to be a people.

[Dax Shepard]

Pleaser, but can I argue? They don't believe anything you're saying in a traditional sense. They're listening to you, and they're like, yeah, you're a human, and this person triggers this thing in you. Even if you say they're doing X, Y, and Z, all they're really thinking about is, well, why is that impactful for you? And how do we.

[Alex Cooper]

Right, that's fair.

[Monica Padman]

Their best version. Yes. But they're still human. They're not robots. Yes, you do develop a relationship with them, and then I don't think they can fully, fully see you as just a project. They still see you as a person.

[Dax Shepard]

I wonder.

[Monica Padman]

I tried to go to my best friend's therapist. She said it was okay. And so I reached out to her therapist, and the therapist said no. She was like, that would be a conflict of interest.

[Alex Cooper]

Oh, so you're a hot topic.

[Monica Padman]

Probably. I mean, come on. We go way back. Of course I want to come up here at night.

[Alex Cooper]

Wait. I'm obsessed with this studio, and I'm looking at this picture, and I cannot figure out what it is. Is that a bacon, egg, and cheese.

[Monica Padman]

Pork roll with Taylor Swift?

[Alex Cooper]

I was gonna say, is that Taylor Swift or your wife?

[Dax Shepard]

Take your pick.

[Alex Cooper]

Wow. What inspired Taylor Swift on top of a pork roll, egg and cheese?

[Dax Shepard]

This artist does celebrities on a sandwich that they're related. So they did want to dog. Because Detroit's known for coney.

[Monica Padman]

You probably have.

[Dax Shepard]

You got to get a Philly steak. Cheese. You're closest to Philadelphia, right?

[Alex Cooper]

Philly cheesesteak.

[Dax Shepard]

Newton was closest.

[Alex Cooper]

It's called Newtown. Oh, not Newton. First of all. Do your fucking research. No, but it's me on a cheesesteak.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, really quick, though, is Newtown a suburb of Philadelphia?

[Alex Cooper]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay, so you would do a cheesesteak?

[Alex Cooper]

Absolutely.

[Dax Shepard]

Unless Newtown's known for some other culinary delight, which I doubt very fucking much. Even though it's called New Town.

[Alex Cooper]

Listen, New Town was a great place to be raised. It's not known for much. Every time someone's like, oh, you're from Pennsylvania. I'm like, I know. Don't ask, because there's not much to give anywhere you. It was a great place to be raised, but there's nothing interesting. There's no fun little tidbits. It doesn't make for good podcast content. Honestly, we'll find it.

[Dax Shepard]

So, to therapy. It's almost more interesting that you like to watch a show about therapy. And you're in therapy, given that your mother's a therapist.

[Alex Cooper]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

I'll tell you, that was my hurdle with aa. AA was what my dad did and all of his friends, and it was virtually Catholicism, because it's what he did. And so I'd be like, God, I got to join this club. My fucking dad was in.

[Alex Cooper]

Something I got really lucky with my parents is that I leaned into both of the things that they did. I took a piece from both of them, and I didn't run from it. And maybe it's because my mom loved it so much, but not in an annoying way. We would beg her to tell us about some of the things that she was doing, her clients, and she's like, I can't tell you about that. And then sometimes, as my mother, she would slip up and, like, tell me some details.

[Monica Padman]

Humans.

[Alex Cooper]

I know. I didn't know who these people were, whatever. And I thought it was so fascinating because of these interpersonal dynamics that you can always relate to in some capacity. So I just really loved it. And I think I saw how transformative it was also for my friends when my mom would do quick little sessions with them in the living room, that was the go to. I would come home from school or soccer, and she'd be doing a session with my best friend. I'm like, mom, this is my time to go outside and make videos and play with my friends. My friend would be like, I just need 30 more minutes. I'd be like, do you guys like my mom more than me? What the. But no. It always had a very positive connotation in my household.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, what I would have been interested in is, oh, my mom gets to hear gossip. My mom gets to hear really juicy stuff that I would love to be.

[Alex Cooper]

Hearing for my mom. She works with children specifically, so it was actually more relatable but less juicy. And like, oh, these two are getting divorced. Let's talk about. Yeah, it wasn't a fair drama, which wouldn't.

[Monica Padman]

So hot.

[Dax Shepard]

So tasty.

[Alex Cooper]

And I also think having a podcast, I'm constantly trying to push Myself to be able to expand the conversation. And that starts with yourself continuing to educate yourself, continuing to learn. And in watching these things, it helps me a little bit. I was taking tips from Orna as I'm watching her interact with her patients. I'm like, I gotta do that when I'm interviewing someone.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Alex Cooper]

So it's also like a learning, fun thing because I want to be better at my craft.

[Dax Shepard]

So they're in the dock a lot and they're lovely. Your mom is hot and in charge and outspoken and confident and believes in you. It's all beautiful. And then your dad is very much a dad in the best way possible.

[Alex Cooper]

Such a dad.

[Monica Padman]

What's that mean?

[Dax Shepard]

He just loves the shit out of Alex and he will stand by her and people have yelled things at him and he is quiet and steady.

[Alex Cooper]

He's so cute.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. A good pair for the mom. The mom is seemingly from. I saw on the dock. She's in charge.

[Alex Cooper]

Yes. My mom runs it all dressed to.

[Dax Shepard]

The nines, great style.

[Alex Cooper]

She was so nervous. She's like, do you think you could, like, blur my neck a little bit in the documentary? I'm like, mom, when you're ready for a facelift, I will be paying for it. You just let me know. She's like, well, wait, you think I need a facelift? I'm like, no. She was so nervous. My mom is truly one of the most intelligent people I've ever met in my life, but she cannot public speak for shit. She bombed at my wedding. It was the best part of my wedding. And to this day, she's like, stop fucking saying that.

[Dax Shepard]

Wait, what version of bombed? She go up on her speech or couldn't read her speech or she didn't write it.

[Alex Cooper]

She wrote one of the most beautiful speeches you will ever actually never hear. Because I still haven't heard it to this day, but I've read it. She goes up and everyone thinks that my parents are doing a skit. They can't get the papers together. They can't get the papers. And then it continues where we're three minutes in, three full minutes, where my mom can't get it together and my dad can't get it together because my mom can't get it together. He's feeling her anxiety and he's like, I'll do it for you. And she's out of orbit, you guys, for seven straight minutes. I turned to Matt and I said, go up there. Take the fucking microphone and make them sit down. And Matt was like, no, they're going to get it together. So then my dad can't see because he somehow forgot his glasses. I'm like, what the fuck? It's my wedding. He can't read, and he starts just ad libbing.

[Dax Shepard]

Hold on, though. I'm presuming, given the little dynamic I saw, he probably thought, mom's gonna handle it.

[Alex Cooper]

Mom's gonna handle it.

[Dax Shepard]

So he's ill prepared because he's like, this is her thing.

[Alex Cooper]

Lori was going up to put on a show. She just fucking forgot that she can't speak publicly. So then my dad tries to remember the speech.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, God.

[Alex Cooper]

When I was born, I went immediately into the icu. This is the way that my dad starts the speech. When Alex was born, she came out of a cloud of blue. Oh, okay, dad, what does that mean? He's trying to read. So they bombed the whole thing. And I never heard their spe speech to this day. Matt then called them. It was our year anniversary, and he called my parents. We were having dinner. And he goes, you guys, it was this exact time a year ago where you ruined our wedding. And my mom is like, matthew, shut the fuck up. She's like, matt, why would you remind me of that horrible moment? But to this day, she always says the worst parts of weddings are always the things that you only talk about.

[Monica Padman]

That's right.

[Dax Shepard]

We just talked about this with my kids play. You'll never remember if it's good, right? You're praying that it's a disaster.

[Alex Cooper]

They were the stars. But no, she's the best woman I've ever met, and I love her more than anything.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, you know, I should have started here because we have a familiarity that I think people will sense right away.

[Alex Cooper]

Oh, my God. How do we tell this story?

[Dax Shepard]

Well, let's start with, we were all at Spotify.

[Alex Cooper]

Oh, I thought you were.

[Dax Shepard]

So the very first time we ever met was at a dinner.

[Monica Padman]

That's true. Very briefly, very briefly.

[Alex Cooper]

Outside in the dark.

[Dax Shepard]

I want to start there because here's my thought. In some sense, we're competitors. I think just recently I had noticed, and I think I said to Monica, like, what's this show Call Her Daddy that's blasting us at Spotify?

[Monica Padman]

To be fair, you kept saying, call you Daddy.

[Dax Shepard]

Call you Daddy.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, he couldn't get it right. He has dyslexia.

[Alex Cooper]

It's okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Now, you're not sure you're as familiar with the competing podcast as I was. I just focus on our podcast. But at any rate, I want to make sure that I'm extra nice if I meet you, I want you to know I'm rooting for you, basically. Even though we're vaguely competitors.

[Alex Cooper]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you have any thoughts like that going into that dinner? Is that crossing your mind? Like, oh, we'll be with chairside expert or whatever you called it.

[Alex Cooper]

Chair guy. The guy that sits in a chair. Yes. I remember that dinner because I knew everyone from Sweden was flying in for Spotify and a bunch of the execs were going to be there. And I think that was something that was a little different than other companies where a lot of the main people at Spotify you rarely got to interact with. Or you were on Zoom, which was great. Great. And they were all lovely. But I knew they were all flying in and I didn't know you were going to be there that night. And then I remember seeing you because you're so tall. And when we had our interaction, I remember being like, oh, he was so nice and lovely. But I think there was this mystified sense of the top podcasters because there was only so much money that we could all get. And it's like, it's all an exorbitant amount. There's room for all of us at the top. But, yes, I remember being like, what is he going to be like? And then I had a great experience with you, but it was so brief. And then we really became friends.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. So then I read about your serious deal, and I was quite loudly excited for you on the show.

[Alex Cooper]

Thank you.

[Dax Shepard]

And then someone invited top podcasters to their house, and we got to the airport and you were there. I didn't know, and I doubt you knew who the guests were gonna be.

[Alex Cooper]

We kept joking, like, are we in an episode of Black Mirror or is this a white Lotus? This very wealthy famous person invited a bunch of podcasters and people in media.

[Dax Shepard]

When I was pitched it, I had a similar thought. I was like, oh, this is very sci fi, and someone's going to get killed.

[Monica Padman]

Truly.

[Dax Shepard]

And it's not going to be me. So I'm going to have a great story. I know I'll live. I was very.

[Alex Cooper]

I'm glad you felt that way.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Alex Cooper]

I would have thought I was going to die, except the fact that Matt got to come. I was like, okay, I feel good. When we arrived at the airport. Yes. I only knew that you and Kristen were going. I knew no one else. And so that immediately, I think, gave us a little bit of comfort, because as adults, it's weird to be like, we're all getting on a plane, we're all going to this place. We're all going to stay in these houses together like a little summer campy. Strange.

[Monica Padman]

Have either of you wondered that maybe you're going to be on some sort of lit like Epstein?

[Alex Cooper]

Yes. I thought, what are we doing here? But thankfully, nothing weird happened. Okay, well, if you're not worried. I'm not worried. Then we immediately all came together because we knew each other a tiny bit.

[Dax Shepard]

That's right. And again, I can't put too fine a point on. I just truly root for you and I'm so excited that you're crushing. What are you laughing at?

[Monica Padman]

I just spill water all over my face.

[Alex Cooper]

Oh, man, it is all over your face. No, but now it's gone. You're fine.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm rooting for you too, to stay dry during this. But yes, we have this long plane ride and it was such a blast. We got along incredibly well, by my estimation.

[Alex Cooper]

We did.

[Dax Shepard]

And then we had this incredible three days which included off roading. What a gift. I didn't see that coming.

[Alex Cooper]

It was so incredible. One of the coolest trips, truly, of my life. I look back and I'm so grateful that we all went and the group was great and the conversations were great. The activities were incredible. Matt and I left being like, wow, we love Dax and Kristen. It was such a successful trip for us.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. So then the plane ride home was just.

[Alex Cooper]

We didn't shut up. Everyone else was asleep and we were in the back of the plane. We couldn't stop gabbing. And then from there, we've now gone to dinners and yeah, we've had a double day.

[Dax Shepard]

It was very fun. And I played poker with Matt.

[Alex Cooper]

And your wife now texts me videos of birds.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Alex Cooper]

Kristen Bell texts me. You guys, it's fine. I'm fucking cool.

[Dax Shepard]

One of the things that surprised me right away is I asked you, I think on the initial plane right there, do you have a hard time not becoming friends with all the people you interview? Because I'm finding that we meet so many fucking people. We had our 900th episode this week.

[Alex Cooper]

Congratulations.

[Dax Shepard]

Thank you. So in that group of 900 people, you bet your ass, like 30 of them I want to be friends with. And I am having a hard time figuring out what to pursue and not pursue. And you go, oh, no, no, no. I won't even give my number. And I was like, oh, my God, this is fascinating. Why not?

[Alex Cooper]

I think I made a really conscious decision very, very early days, because one, we're a little different in that I wasn't Famous before podcasting. I am known for podcasting. So I was a nobody when I came into this industry. And the minute I started interviewing celebrities, I became very acutely aware of that. In order to do my job correctly, I needed to create essentially this bubble around myself where people started to really know me as this interviewer that isn't just hanging with celebrities. You are a celebrity, so it's a little different. And I felt like in order to really garner respect from these people, I wanted people to just be like, she's not fame hungry.

[Monica Padman]

She's not a social client.

[Alex Cooper]

Yeah. Because I remember so many people that I idolized growing up asking for my number.

[Monica Padman]

Number.

[Dax Shepard]

How do you say no?

[Alex Cooper]

I was like, my assistant can get you and she'll connect us. And then they never connect us because everyone now is like, oh, Alex. But it wasn't personal. There were so many moments I wanted to. But I knew one, I really wanted to stay as normal as I possibly could. I've seen so many people come into this industry and get so wrapped up, and I knew I also couldn't do my job if I was so close with these people. So I still feel moments where people come into my studio and they're really nervous. Then I obviously break them down and not be nervous. But I don't know if I could do that if I was at every Hollywood party. And thankfully, Matt is not that type of person. He's been in Hollywood for so long, but he doesn't partake. So we kind of have this great simpatico with each other where we stay on the fringe. We dip in when we need to, but we're not going to go to an Oscar party unless we're up for an Oscar. We're not putting ourselves in those positions. And I think it's made my life really easy now with my job. I have clear boundaries.

[Dax Shepard]

And do you think that being friends with the people would stand in the way of you asking a question that you would otherwise want to ask?

[Alex Cooper]

It depends on the guest. I think if you're going really heavy on some of these, I gotta get in there. And I don't want to say I'm being a dick, but sometimes it's a little uncomfortable. But I'm gonna ask. And I don't want them to feel comfortable to be like, oh, I don't want to talk about that. And then I'm like. Because my audience expects me to. So I think it's allowed me to have a level of distance so that I can ask questions like, we're not friends. I'm an interviewer. Sitting here right now. Keep it professional. And now, to be fair, there are moments where I see people at an event and it's beautiful to reconnect with someone because they shared so much, like you guys do. You speak about really intimate topics here. It is weird to not become friends with them because you're talking about the most intimate parts of their life. And when you're in this bubble of a room, it doesn't feel like there are cameras. It feels like we're actually hanging out.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, I've gotten closer to people in two hours that I've never met. Dove Cameron, I didn't know who she was. We're crying within 40 minutes, both of us.

[Alex Cooper]

There you go.

[Dax Shepard]

She leaves. And I'm like, well, that's about as connected as I've gotten.

[Alex Cooper]

So it's hard. But the beauty of conversation is that sometimes it's best left right where you put it out. And I don't need to continue that relationship with that person unless they, of course, reach out and they're like, I really want to have another conversation. But most of the time we leave it.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. So when we were getting to know each other, and particularly on the plane ride home, and I was learning about your background, you're saying you were bullied and you're an ugly duck. We're giving you the benefit of the doubt, but it's very hard.

[Alex Cooper]

I know it is. And I did that by design, which is so sad to say. I worked so hard for no one to know that that was my past life. Trying to get rid of every photo on the Internet. Trying to not let people see that part of me. Trying to erase a part of me that made me who I am. If you told me that when I was younger that you wouldn't have known. I would have been like, like, job complete. Yeah, I did it.

[Dax Shepard]

I know that the pain of it and the self image of it is what it is, whether it's real or not. I do believe that that's how it felt. But then I watched the documentary, and again, you're not unattractive. You're a very cute little girl.

[Alex Cooper]

Thank you.

[Dax Shepard]

But you do you have red fucking hair.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, cute.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, it's so cute.

[Alex Cooper]

And like acting.

[Monica Padman]

But we all have that. Is it real?

[Dax Shepard]

You should watch it. Here's exactly what you'll be able to say. Yes. Any adult would look at that child and go, that's a beautiful little girl. And also, I know what kids are like in third grade. Your hair is super red. What I love the most you have bracelet is seemingly your entire childhood, just like I did. He never got the hang of your braces.

[Alex Cooper]

Like, my mouth is so big. And then the bumps all over and the freckles and the acne. But you know what's so sad? I agree. When I look back at pictures of myself, I'm like, it wasn't that bad. When I was home, I was okay with how I looked. And then when you get to sixth grade and boys and everything starts to change. I became aware of. Of how I was being perceived as ugly just because it was constantly being told to me every single waking moment of the day. When I was in school, everyone called me the ginger with no soul. I was Skeletor because I couldn't gain weight, so I looked like I had an eating disorder. And then it got physical. I will never forget we had indoor recess. And all of the boys started circling around me, and I didn't really understand what was happening. And they were all whispering, and they got in a circle and. And they started screaming, put the fire out. Put the fire out, Put the fire out. And they took one of their winter coats and they put it over my head and they took the back and they slammed me onto the ground. And I woke up, I assume a couple minutes later, a minute later, completely concussed, didn't know what happened. But I wake up and I see all these boys laughing at me like, we did it. And all of the girls are so consumed by the boys, so they don't want to stand up for me. And I remember just trying to play it off like I'm okay, but I completely blacked out. And this is in sixth grade. I then scurry kind of out of the room, and I go up to the hall monitor and I just ask if I can go to the nurse. And I told her what happened, and she let me lay down. And then she was like, you're fine. And I was like, yeah, I'm fine. I'm fine. I go back to class, and then I remember experiencing concussion symptoms and telling no one. And I went home that night, threw up, didn't know what was going on with me. I just got the beaten out of me. The back of my skull is in so much pain. And it was just because of the color of my hair and the way I looked that it was physical retaliation. I then started to go into my bathroom at night and be staring at myself like, how can I fucking change this? What can I change about my survival to survive? Because it Was every fucking day. It just was so sad. And that's what I talk about in the documentary. Not as in detailed, because there was only so much time. But a lot of my young formative years, I became so good at. At hiding myself. I could spot when someone was going to physically either bully me or come at me verbally. And so I would change the conversation or I would pull myself back and talk about one of my friends, about how cute and funny they were. So everything was to try to mitigate the damage of someone trying to come at me. And I had this down to a fucking science. I would. Would wear X amount of socks per day because I had to wear these skirts and my legs were so small.

[Dax Shepard]

Were you boarding at this school?

[Alex Cooper]

So no, that's high school. So middle school was this Catholic school. Grew up very Catholic church every Sunday.

[Dax Shepard]

I can imagine myself being in that situation and not telling my family. Were you sharing this?

[Alex Cooper]

My parents had no idea.

[Dax Shepard]

Why do you think you weren't telling them?

[Alex Cooper]

One, because of the embarrassment. And then two, I think because at home I really was so different. My parents allowed me to express myself. My parents thought my hair was the most beautiful thing and they always would compliment me. And I started to resent it because I'm like, little do you know? It's literally the pain of my life. I want to shave my head. I hate myself so much. I think the middle school days of my life were the hardest, where I really started to disconnect from telling my parents a lot. And. And that made it really isolating. And it always makes me cry when my parents were moving out of their house and I was finding journals years ago while they were packing stuff. And it was just the darkest thoughts, not that I had suicidal, genuine thoughts. It was more I wrote basically, like, if I did take my own life, would then these boys know, learn a lesson? Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Did you ever ask if you could dye your hair?

[Alex Cooper]

It was the summer going into high school, and I had the most anxiety. I was like, I cannot go to this new, new school. And so partly why I chose a school that really no one from my middle school was going to was I wanted to start over. And it had the best soccer program on the East Coast. So I ended up asking my mom that summer, can I please dye my hair? And just like, highlights. And it was so minimal, but it made such a difference.

[Dax Shepard]

She didn't put up a fight.

[Alex Cooper]

My mom was so supportive. And the hairdresser, those moments where she was like, don't touch this gorgeous red hair. And I was like, I'm about to kill myself. Dye this. I can't take another minute. The sad thing I look back on though, is I then just kept going and it got blonder and blonder and blonder. And I look back at pictures of myself specifically in college, and I just lost myself. I really tried to become this girl that I always envied in middle school. The blonde girl and the tan. I'm a redhead with pale skin, and.

[Dax Shepard]

I have freckles and a sensitivity to anesthetic.

[Monica Padman]

Yes, yes.

[Alex Cooper]

I tried to change everything about myself, and I took it way too far. The hair was platinum, the extensions, all of it. And I never wanted anyone to know who I really was. And so that was really fucking depressing.

[Monica Padman]

When you were in college and you looked in the mirror and you were my color skin and platinum blonde hair, were you like, I fucking did it? Were you proud of yourself in that moment? I did the thing I needed to do for myself. And also, were boys now into you?

[Alex Cooper]

Yes. It was. Was split. It was, oh, my God, I did it. This is so dumb how different I'm being treated because of the way I look. On the other hand, I felt like a poser.

[Dax Shepard]

You betrayed yourself a little bit.

[Alex Cooper]

I have paint on my body and dye in my hair. This isn't who I am. Well.

[Dax Shepard]

And if you dated people, I imagine you're waiting for them to find out who you really are and for it to be over and living with the fear that they are going to discover who you really are.

[Alex Cooper]

They're like, she's this hot platinum blonde. And meanwhile. Oh. I was like, you guys are your root.

[Monica Padman]

No, roots are red.

[Alex Cooper]

I was standing in. A boyfriend literally looked at the top of my head and he was like, wait, why are your roots. And I hadn't got them done. And I was like, the hair stylist messed it up. I just would fully make up these crazy stories. And then it became bigger than me. And I remember when I started to get publicly known for my job, I was so terrified that kids from middle school would release photos, and they did. And I remember that day, and it's a picture that was just so God awful. And I was mortified. But then it kind of forced me to be like, all right, everyone knows the gigs up. And I look back now and I can at least acknowledge, although I wish I could take the pain away from. I should have never had to go through certain things I did. I remember getting headbutt by this kid at recess, and I again passed out really aggressive things. That these boys were doing. I had to find ways to love myself and it took a really fucking long time. And that's okay.

[Dax Shepard]

Stay tuned for more armchair expert if you dare. We are supported by Michigan. Oh, I'm such a proud Michigander. I love Michigan. The people, the nature in summertime in Michigan, I'm telling you, I would put it up against any place in the world. It's such a beautiful state and it's a great place for everyone, especially kids, to experience. Experience all four seasons with beaches, trails and snow a stone's throw away. What you may not know is Michigan is also a great place to work. You can have a quality lifestyle and a rewarding tech career. The fast growing and rapidly evolving automotive and clean energy industries offer opportunities for career advancement no matter what your skill level. Plus, Michigan offers accessible housing, exciting nightlife, and an inclusive community for all. It's really a one of a kind place. And do not forget the lakes. Lakes, Lakes, Lakes, Lakes, Lakes. Live your best 9 to 5 and 5 to n. You can in Michigan. Go to the Michigan Life.org to learn more. We are supported by dominoes. You know I have the app.

[Monica Padman]

Me too.

[Dax Shepard]

It's not talked about in this ad spot, but I do got to give a shout out to the lava cakes. They're outrageous.

[Monica Padman]

I want it right now.

[Dax Shepard]

At long last, Domino's finally, finally has stuffed crust pizza. And not just stuffed crust Parmesan stuffed crust.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, man, what are you waiting for?

[Dax Shepard]

Who doesn't love a little Parmesan? Nobody, that's who. It's hard to believe it's taken them this long to make a stuffed crust pizza. But let me tell you, this was worth the wait. They've taken their buttery flavored handmade pan pizza dough and stuffed it with melty cheese. And if that wasn't enough, they topped it with garlic seasoning and yes, real Parmesan.

[Monica Padman]

I can taste it.

[Dax Shepard]

I love mine smothered with pepperoni.

[Alex Cooper]

Ooh.

[Dax Shepard]

The more the better. Okay, all this talk about Domino's has got me hungry and I think think I've got tonight's dinner plans all figured out. Order Domino's new Parmesan stuffed crust pizza on the Domino's app and use Code DAX to get any three topping Parmesan Stuffed Crust Pizza for 11.99. That's code DAX on the Domino's app to try it today. Prices higher in some locations. You must ask for this limited time offer. Prices, participation delivery area and charges may vary. Delivery orders subject to local stores. Delivery charge. We are supported By Quints. You know when you look back at photos of yourself in your all black pun age in high school or wearing head to toe 90s neon and you wonder what was I thinking? Sometimes trends just don't stand the test of time. If you want an outfit that you're going to feel great about both now and later, check out the wardrobe staples from Quint's. They're classic and elevated so you're going to love the way you look now and years from now. And they're made with high quality materials so they'll hold up for years to come too. I love Quantum quints. I love their cashmere so much.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, if you want to revamp your wardrobe, which I suggest per season.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Add some pieces in that are fun, kind of just for the season. There's some really good summer pieces, some great button downs that you can also wear by the pool.

[Dax Shepard]

They have European linen beach shorts, you know, organic silk polos. Stick to staples that last with elevated essentials from quint. Go to quint.com stacks for free shipping on your order and 365 day return returns. That's Q-U-I-N-C-E.com DAX to get free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com DAX we are supported by Squarespace. Squarespace is the all in one website platform designed to help you stand out and succeed online. Whether you're just starting out or scaling your business, Squarespace gives you everything you need to claim your domain, showcase your offerings with a professional website, grow your brand and get paid all in one place. Squarespace has been along for the ride with us as we've, you know, first just had a website, then started selling merch and it's grown with us and has helped us scale. If you're a fellow creator, Squarespace makes it easy to monetize your content easily. Sell access to online courses, blogs, videos and memberships. Start with a fully customizable website and earn recurring revenue by gating your content behind a paywall. Simply set the price and choose whether to charge a one time fee or a subscription for access. This is why we love Squarespace. Setting up that kind of tech sounds hard, but they take all the guesswork out of it. You can get your site up and running quicker than you would have thought possible. Head to squarespace.com for a free trial and when you're ready to launch, use offer code DAX to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. That's squarespace.com and promo code Dax to get started today. Simultaneous to this all happening, you're starting to get very prolific in your base, making videos in green screen and learning to edit. And you're obviously living the life you want to be living in your basement. And I do wonder, if you were celebrated and embraced and at every party and making out with a dude on the back of his motorcycle, would we be in the basement doing all that?

[Alex Cooper]

Because of how horrible my personal social life was. Filming videos and creating was the one really safe space where. Where I didn't care because the only people that were seeing my videos were my best friends and my parents. So I was fine with my hair and I was fine with my skin and I would do close ups of my face even though I was breaking out or my braces.

[Dax Shepard]

You have control.

[Alex Cooper]

Yeah. And I loved it. I really felt so happy there. And I hated going to school so much. So whenever I got home, I just ran down to the basement, turned on the camera, started filming. But then, even as one of my Instagram stories, I posted something of my best friend, Lauren and I. But I put it in black and white a few years ago ago cuz I didn't want people to know. Recently. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Wow.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. There's such deep wounds. It gets laughable. Especially when you're my age. You're like, we're still dealing with something that lasted for 18 months.

[Alex Cooper]

It actually becomes physically learned behaviors. It almost was like I couldn't stop. I just got better and better and better at it that it would be weird to stop hiding myself. Even when I started call her daddy, I was like, this is the I wish I could have been. My whole life I was getting to do and be this person, this, that when I was younger, I wasn't at all. So really interesting. It was like big dichotomy impact.

[Monica Padman]

Your relationship with boys and men. Were you always chasing approval?

[Alex Cooper]

Yes, but almost in a weirder, sadistic way.

[Dax Shepard]

Did you want to punish them?

[Alex Cooper]

Kind of, yeah. Because I have never had a hard time making female friends. That was the thing that filled me up the most. I always felt so comfortable around women. Women being on soccer teams, filming with my best friends. I love female friendships. And because the boys were the aggressors that were coming towards me, I always was physically scared of them, mentally scared of them. They never wanted to touch me. I remember my first kiss. Everyone made jokes about, oh, she's not even good at kissing. Everything I did sexually or physically was scrutinized. So I really felt like I couldn't be myself. And explore my sexuality because I hated myself. Myself. And then when I finally got to a point where I changed my hair and changed my skin, boys were drooling over me. And I was just like, oh, I hate you. Yeah, you. Because I've been the same person. I just look different, same personality. And then I think when I got to college, it really turned because it became this fun game to me where I was like, who can I get next? And that's when I started dating professional athletes, because I was like, these are men that get everything handed to them, and I'm going to be the one memorable thing that they can't get and they can't get and they have to work for. And it was all just about me. Once I got it, then I was like, oh, my God, I did it. Fuck you. I played the game. And then it was like, oh.

[Monica Padman]

And then you're done with that.

[Dax Shepard]

Also, it's the proverbial jock. It's so.

[Alex Cooper]

It's so classic.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, it's classic. Who are the cool people in high school, now that I'm in college, I guess are professional athletes.

[Alex Cooper]

It's also hard being in a public situation talking about it. I also am not looking. Looking for any sympathy. It's more. I really felt like it was time to share because it is polar opposite to the Persona that I have shown the entire time of my career. This confident woman who's explaining how to get the guy. And I thought it was important to show people I haven't always been that way.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, I think so.

[Alex Cooper]

And that part of me I'm so grateful for, now I can actually genuinely say I'm so, so fucking happy that I wasn't one of those people that had it all in middle school and was the cute girl. Middle school. Because it really informed a lot of my personality. I love who I am.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I would argue you're obligated to. In the same way that Chris and I have always felt obligated to go like, oh, no, no, we're a couple's therapy. It's hard. We didn't do well. We hate each other. It's not the thing in the commercial. You have some obligation, I think, to share that side of it. But let's talk about soccer for a second, because also. So you had said on the airplane that you were a good soccer player, and I'm only left to guess what that means. Alex is a fucking bonkers soccer player. There's some shots in it. The announcer's even calling now. Oh, my God. That was a Beckham esque shot. She fucking kicks from, I don't know, 60ft back. It goes way up over. Everyone just tucks in under thing. I'm like, oh, that bitch can fucking kick a soccer ball. You were great.

[Alex Cooper]

Oh my God, thank you.

[Dax Shepard]

And that I'm assuming in addition to the basement and the videos, this is another place where it's a meritocracy. It's not arbitrary. There's real rules. And if you do X, Y and Z, you will be acknowledged as such.

[Monica Padman]

And team sports, you have a built in community, people who need you and you need them. Yeah, it's so important.

[Alex Cooper]

Soccer was the love of my life from a very young age. My parents tried to have me do every sport and I was like, fine, I'll try everything, but I'll do it. And if I don't want to do it, I can go back to soccer, right? And they're like, yes, but we just think you should try. I tried every single sport. Played once, got out, I did swim great. Out. Okay, back to soccer. I was just obsessed with it. And finally my parents were like, fine, just do soccer. And I leaned in and I give so much credit to my parents. I traveled all around the world. I represented the United States in Russia. We went to Sochi. I played on a club sport and I did also my school soccer. And I just loved it so much. And again, it was all women. I felt so good. I didn't care about my body if I was out there. And I just had the best time. And I was so competitive. And I get that from my dad. He played D1 hockey at Wisconsin. Yeah, my dad worked for the NHL, Philadelphia Flyers producer. So I grew up around these athletes and that was my dad's job. So athletics just in my household was the norm. I never saw my dad at a nine to five normal job. We're going to stadiums and watching the players and he's producing the game. And it was a really cool upbringing, but soccer was my thing and. And it's so crazy because I remember it was my freshman year of high school. I was touring colleges at 13 years old. I'm trying to figure out where I'm going to college. And I will never forget I toured Boston University and my mom is from Boston Lowell, Massachusetts. She told me all about Boston and how it was the best time of her life and she loved living there. And so I really didn't know at that young of an age. In freshman year of high school where I wanted to go, I toured Michigan and U, Miami and All these places, and Boston was it for me because they had a great film program. And the soccer I was very excited about. I also knew there were better soccer schools, but this one, I was like, I'll get a full ride. And I also want to be able to have also a little bit of a life. So this is perfect. And I couldn't have been more excited. And I had dealt with asshole male coaches my whole life. And a huge draw was that the coach was a woman. I was so excited. I had never been coached by a woman. And back to the whole, men were assholes to me my whole life. I'm like, I'm gonna have it made in college. I finally look good. My coach is woman. I've got all my girls at college. I'm gonna reinvent myself again.

[Dax Shepard]

What are the first things, and how long are you denying the signals before you start realizing there's something weird going on with this coach? What were the soft starts?

[Monica Padman]

The female coach?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. It's a heartbreaking story. It makes me really heartbreaking.

[Alex Cooper]

Yeah, it's very confusing when it is this slow burn, because for context, having a full tuition scholarship, this woman owns you, and you have to do everything she says. My freshman year, when she was speaking to all the freshmen, you want her attention because you want to be the freshman that's the standout freshman. In the beginning of freshman year, everything felt fine. If anything, I was vying for her attention. I'm trying my hardest. I'm playing my hardest. I'm staying after. If we need to pick up the water bottles, I'm going the extra mile. And then I would say, towards the end of our fall freshman semester, I started to feel her just coming over to me at practice more and asking how I was doing. And I really genuinely thought that that was her deeming me like, I'm gonna invest in you, and this is all you can ask for.

[Dax Shepard]

That's what you want.

[Alex Cooper]

She's the holder of your. All of it. So freshman year, it was what I thought was normal. And then freshman spring semester is a lot of training sessions. And I do remember her just really wanting to, let's really get ready for next season. Come have a meeting with me. And that's when the one on one session started a lot. She was starting to really fixate on me. And I again, was just. Just like, this is great. To anyone that didn't play sports in especially college, I had six girls in my grade. So as much as we're all best friends, you're competing. You didn't really share too much information at that time with your teammates because everyone's competing in a way. So sometimes I wouldn't tell my teammates that she asked for a one on one.

[Monica Padman]

What are the nature of the one.

[Dax Shepard]

You also don't want to make them jealous. They're just gonna hate you if you're the coach's pat.

[Alex Cooper]

The fact that first beginnings of one on ones were a mix of lightly talking about my soccer abilities and then just asking me about myself. And again, I just thought she's trying to get to know me and she wants me to feel comfortable here. And then sophomore year, everything changed. My freshman summer, going into sophomore year, a lot of girls stayed in Boston to train because August comes and you've got to be in the best shape of your life. And. And she would come around during training sessions in summer and it felt different since schools out of session. It felt more like we weren't in school. It felt like anything could happen.

[Monica Padman]

Camp vibes.

[Alex Cooper]

Yeah, everyone's acting a little less professional. She would come around more and I definitely noticed her continuously like, hey, Coupe, come talk to me over here. And I'm like, but it's summer. I don't have to. Why do I have to keep fucking talking to you? All the girls are going to the guys frat party. I want to go. And I'm having to stay. And sophomore year started and that's really when I started to interact with more guys. She was getting wind of me starting to date men and I will never forget I got dropped off. Sorry, I'm like shaking. I haven't said this story.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, let's acknowledge this because you and I talked about this. I have had the experience where I get to share my thing, but I get to edit it and I get to be in control of it.

[Alex Cooper]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And then ultimately it goes out into the wilderness. And so this is a big part of the doc and it's going out into the wilderness and it's scary.

[Alex Cooper]

So sophomore year, I'm getting dropped off by this guy that I was seeing and my assistant coach saw me. You're allowed to like, all these girls are sleeping off campus. Some of these girls live with their boyfriends. And I get called in for a one on one and I'm like, what could this be? And at this point, the one on ones are starting to get so often we don't talk about soccer anymore. She's just talking to me about my personal self. I'm definitely starting to get more uncomfortable. This is excessive. And now my teammates are starting to Recognize and start to be like, what do you guys talk about? And still though, there was a jealousy element. People being like, why do you get so many one on ones? Because people would ask for one on ones and she'd be like, we can talk in a week and a half. And I'm in there almost every other day.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Alex Cooper]

And so I go in and this was the one moment that I vividly remember feeling so out of body. I walk in having no concept of what we're going to about talk. And she says, I heard that you got dropped off by a guy this morning. And I'm like, oof, yeah, yeah, that's right. And she goes, I don't know if you should be sleeping off campus, Alex.

[Dax Shepard]

And I'm like, yeah, what are you supposed to say? The only answer is, that's none of your fucking business. And you can't say that.

[Alex Cooper]

My only relation to this woman was her telling me what to do and then me doing it. So even that I'm allowing little like, oh, I in my body knew this was the first line. And then I said, coach, all the other girls sleep off campus with their boyfriends. And then she looked at me and said, did you have sex last night?

[Dax Shepard]

Now, really quick, if I try to imagine this experience for a while, I'd be like, am I imagining something's crazy? Some part of me at that question would go like, right, I'm not nuts. I now know what this is. Or you already knew what it was.

[Monica Padman]

I don't know if you were able to say.

[Alex Cooper]

I think what was so frustrating, and I think that's why it's so hard to talk about it, is because I was so beholden to this woman and anything she told me to do, I had to do. And this was the thing I worked my entire life to get to. So I just kicked into fight or flight survival Mode where in 30 minutes I have to go on the field and she's going to be tell me what to do.

[Dax Shepard]

I. Yeah, yeah.

[Alex Cooper]

And it's in front of all of my best friends and my peers and my teammates who I respect, and I want them to respect me. So I'm really trying to downplay it in my head and I'm trying to compartmentalize. I am a more outgoing person and I'm trying to justify anything that I can to suppress it and make it okay and normal.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. De. Escalate it.

[Alex Cooper]

I couldn't tell you what I. I said. I blacked out so hard in that moment. I think a lot of times I Tried to divert the conversation so I'd be like, wait, did we know if Holy Cross is there a striker still? And I would just start talking about soccer. And she would meet me back with Alex. And these meetings, you're alone. It's just horrible. I literally felt like I was in this cage, and I didn't know what to do other than sit and be quiet and listen. I started to try to get a little bit, as I got older, just a little bit more. Not stern, but I'm not going to engage in this. And then she stopped playing me, I'll add.

[Dax Shepard]

She would do the film playback as you do in all sports, and she would pause moments to talk about someone's move. And then she would do these long sessions where all she would talk about is how Alex looks and how graceful she is. Break her down physically.

[Alex Cooper]

That film session, I think, was. Was the moment my teammates all started to really notice it, but of course, couldn't speak up because they also are on scholarship and they're trying to fight for their playing time. The film session, I think, was the first really obvious moment to my teammates. This is inappropriate.

[Dax Shepard]

What's interesting is she's losing control because.

[Alex Cooper]

She'S doing it publicly.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. That's a fascinating part. She's on some crazy arc. Right.

[Alex Cooper]

She couldn't help herself.

[Dax Shepard]

She was satiated with just sitting with you for a while, but then she needed to up that, and then it was this. And now she's losing control of this whole thing herself.

[Alex Cooper]

And it was all on her time. Give her more attention. Indulge her more playing time.

[Dax Shepard]

She told you not to live with your roommate. She kicked your roommate off the team.

[Alex Cooper]

It was all isolation tactics. And that session, I barely played. And when you're in film sessions, you're going over the biggest plays of the game or the pain points or where did it break down? And she put me in for like three fucking minutes at the end of a half. I didn't score nothing.

[Monica Padman]

No reason to be.

[Alex Cooper]

Exactly. No reason to be talking about me. And she pauses it multiple times. Everybody, look at Alex. Look at her hair. You can't not notice her on the field. Look how blonde her hair is. Look at her skin. Would always talk about how I would wear my shorts. Like, the detail. I tried so hard in these moments to be strong in front of my teammates because I wanted to be a leader. And I remember getting back into my locker room, and that was one of the moments because it was just a really hell of a week with her. And I sat down Down. And I just had tears streaming down my face, sitting in my locker. And all of my teammates, individually or collectively in groups throughout the 30 minutes. Cuz then we had to go out to practice, were like, cooper, what the hell? What is going on? I'm so sorry. That was so inappropriate. My captains came up to me and so that was the first big moment. But then it continued. We're outside, we're playing a game where you have to kick the soccer ball far and then you trap it. And she goes, wait. Before we start this training session though, there's one rule. Whoever gets Alex on their team, you have to go below her neck. Because we wouldn't want to mess up her moneymakers. Those teeth are her moneymakers. And everyone in practice would just be like, okay. And I'm standing there humiliated, disgusted, isolated. So this went on and on and on and on and on. And I think I started to just give up on soccer.

[Dax Shepard]

There's one moment that's really so fucking wild to watch, which is she's punishing you. She won't play you. She puts you in at one point, you score the goal and there's a press conference afterwards. And you and presumably the other player who had scored are there and the coach is there. And she's furious because you are having sex with a boy. And that's why she was punishing you. And you scored this goal. And she will not say Alex's name. She'll say like, we got lucky with one of the scorers. And then her body language. She's not a coach. She is someone embroiled in this insane fantasy about you.

[Alex Cooper]

You can see my face when I get handed the microphone. I am trying to downplay it because when I would get attention and it wasn't how she decided she would become very enraged. And it was all on her time. Because it was a really, really strange case of sexual harassment where it was attraction and resentment.

[Monica Padman]

I think that's common.

[Alex Cooper]

Yes. And the resentment aspect was so heavily dictating my ability to play soccer. And so it was this push and pull where I never knew when I was going to be on the field.

[Dax Shepard]

Or off doing the thing you had committed your life to. You have been working at this for 10 years and you're at the place that you were working to get. And now it's this horrendous experience that you can't escape.

[Alex Cooper]

I think one of the most twisted things, and I lightly talk about it in the documentary, when was. It was my junior year. And that's when I was probably at the peak of my game, I was really doing well. Now I knew what was going on. I called home since my freshman year and my mom would just take notes.

[Dax Shepard]

She was writing it all down because.

[Alex Cooper]

Being someone in the field of therapy, my mom would just chronicle, I'm in it. But she was able to read back from freshman year now. And she's like, alex, this is getting out of hand.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, she could see the escalation because.

[Alex Cooper]

Of the dynamic I'm explaining with my teammates. I really only confided in one of my teammates, and her name happens to also be Alex. And Alex was aware of what was going on. And no one else really knew the deep, deep details, but everyone knew, every single person. If you walked up to them and said, what is Alex and coach's relationship? They would say, something is so off. Coach treats Alex different than every other player on this team. That is a fact. And we finish after our season. And I had the best season ever. It was after that goal. And everyone's like, you're getting it, captain. And my mom's like, just be prepared. And I will never forget, I'm sitting in my dorm room and my roommate and best friend Alex goes for her one on one to finish the year. And Alex was a good player. She wasn't the best player. She wasn't the worst. She was incredible at fitness. She always won fitness tests. And she goes in and my coach just says, you're done. You're off the team. And Alex is like, we. I've never had a warning. What do you mean I'm off the team? And she said, you're done. You can keep your Scholars scholarship, though, which means something is wrong. Because if she did something wrong, you can take away her scholarship and get her off the team. This girl gets to walk on campus with a scholarship and she's not gonna have to play soccer. So you're acknowledging something's off. They handed her a garbage bag and she calls me from the locker room sobbing. And I remember I dropped to the floor and I have a panic attack because I realize one. Oh, my God, my poor friend. How is this girl who has also worked her whole life, fucking collected collateral in this horrible situation.

[Dax Shepard]

The guilt I felt, yeah, you have caused this somehow.

[Alex Cooper]

This was a complete isolation tactic. No one knew the detail except for Alex. And she just pulled the one person away that knew everything.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Alex Cooper]

And so I go in for my one on one and she puts me on probation. I have like a 3,5 GPA at this point. I have done nothing but Excel in soccer. And mind you, there are girls on my team who have been sent to the hospital to get their stomach pumped from drinking. And they. I got a slap on the wrist and I'm getting probation. She says, do you see what I did to your friend Alex?

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, my. It's like a horror movie at this point.

[Alex Cooper]

He says, you're gonna live with who I want you to live with. You're going to do exactly what I say. And if you don't hit all of those things I just handed you, then we're gonna have a hard problem here, Alex. I mean, mom, like, I thought I was coming in here to get captain. How is this happening? And when you look at the probation letter, what makes me sick is there was nothing tangible that I could hit. It was all to her disc. And one of them was. And it makes me so emotional. That reason I was on probation is I missed one of my night classes. So many kids missed more classes. And the reason I missed that night class was because the week before was when she started to insist that she drive me alone to my night class. And I just. I just, like. I couldn't do it. I just was like, I don't want to get in the car with that woman again. So I made up an excuse that I was sick and I didn't go. And to see it on that probation, if you showed anyone that, they'd be like, well, you missed a class. And I'm like, but why did I miss specifically my night class? And I just remember feeling so sick to my stomach. This entire thing is just meant now to control me even more, to have more one on ones with me, to get me alone, to isolate me. And I was just like, I can't do this anymore. Because I knew it's gonna get so much worse. This is gonna be a living hell. And so I call my. My parents, and my mom is like, we got to come up.

[Dax Shepard]

It's time.

[Alex Cooper]

It's time. So my parents come up, and we request a meeting with the dean of athletics. And we go in for this meeting, and my mom brings the entire notebook. All of the harassment that I had endured.

[Dax Shepard]

It's a beast of a full.

[Alex Cooper]

It's insane. This woman takes notes. Okay, we say, my daughter has been being sexually harassed by Nancy Feldman since her freshman year here on this campus. And it has now gotten so bad to the point where she is threatening basically our daughter's scholarship if she doesn't abide by more of her rules. And this has gotten so out of hand, we need Your help. And in that moment, I was so sad that it had come to this point. I don't want to be doing this. I never wanted to meet the dean of athletics. I don't want to be in this position. But I knew in order for me to continue playing, I couldn't play for this woman anymore. And she couldn't be my coach. She couldn't control herself anymore. Yes. And my mom is like, I've written down every single thing. Here you go. And he won't open the book.

[Monica Padman]

No.

[Alex Cooper]

He doesn't ask any questions. He sits in silence. And then he just looks at me and says, what do you want?

[Dax Shepard]

That should be obvious to you.

[Alex Cooper]

What I want, right? And I said, I want to keep playing soccer. I want to play my senior year with my teammates and what I've worked my entire life for. I want to play, but I can't keep being sexually harassed by this woman. I need to be protected. I need you guys to help me. And they say, well, we are not getting rid of Nancy Feldman. She is a decorated coach here. She had been the only coach who had come through that organization at the time for women's soccer. She had plaques all over the university. She was celebrated. She was decorated. And they said, we will not be getting rid of her. So you can keep playing or you don't need to play, and you can keep your scholarship.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my God.

[Alex Cooper]

And after a pretty short meeting, I said, I guess then I can't play soccer. Soccer anymore. And you all win, and I'm gonna leave, and I'll keep my scholarship. And that's that. I left with my parents that day, and I got in the car and I had a breakdown, and I was crying, and I remember feeling so angry. And I found out through a teammate that the next day, Nancy went, hey, everyone, just wanna let you know Alex Cooper is no longer on the team. Not sure why she quit, but she quit and she left you guys. So that's up to her. And said something along the lines of hoping no one else would quit because. What a fucking story. Sore loser.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, boy.

[Monica Padman]

But they all knew.

[Alex Cooper]

They knew. But again, it's like, back to work.

[Dax Shepard]

Also. To what degree did they know? Do they know she's driving her to her night classes?

[Monica Padman]

No. Well, no, no, no, no, no.

[Alex Cooper]

There's so many terrible fallouts from all of this, but one of the hardest fallouts was how many friends I lost. I didn't blame them, and I know they didn't blame me, but it became really hard to maintain these friendships when they're trying to continue to play for.

[Dax Shepard]

This woman and they're feeling about that, I'm sure.

[Alex Cooper]

And they can't stand up.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Look what happened. Turn a blind eye.

[Dax Shepard]

And the notion that you were made to quit.

[Alex Cooper]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

When you're defining yourself by someone who doesn't quit, does the extra thing and now you've been put in a position where you have to quit.

[Alex Cooper]

I really tried to repackage myself and pretend like I was okay. I really didn't want them to think I was hurting. So I was social and I was trying to just pretend. But internally I was broken and I was devastated. And I reconnected with one of my teammates. We met in Santa Monica and she just broke down crying and she was just like, I think we all knew, but we were so scared.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Alex Cooper]

And we all had to protect ourselves. So many of these girls are on scholarships. This is their livelihood. So everyone's out for themselves. But it was validating a little bit. As time has gone on to hear that from my teammates. We kind of knew. I didn't know the extent and I know this is going to come out and I'm going to get reached out to again because I still didn't even share the full extent.

[Dax Shepard]

Listen, how well do 40 year olds in a workplace deal with this kind of thing? And these are like all 20, 20 year old.

[Alex Cooper]

That was something that I carried for a really, really long time. I had met with a lawyer before. I went in with the dean of athletics. He said, you have a full sexual harassment case, but do you want to be the girl on campus suing? And he said, I know you said you wanted to go into the entertainment business. This is something that's going to follow you for a very long time. These people will drag this out. This is not your senior year and done. This is years of a potential lawsuit. It may affect you getting a job. It may affect. Affect a lot of parts of your life. And I wanted to sue because there was the part where I was like, I need something. Like I need justice. I also need my teammates.

[Dax Shepard]

How else are you going to stop it as well? A lawsuit probably ends in a more dramatic response from the school.

[Alex Cooper]

I don't know the right answer. And as time has gone on, it has weighed on me. Would I have done something differently? And I don't think I would have because I'm so fortunate that now I have a platform where I'm now about to speak about this. But the thing that really gets me is I am so aware of my privilege I am a white privileged woman who has a platform. I have money, I have resources. I have power. And I'm still scared to tell this story.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think about this all the time. I talk about having been molested quite openly. I've never said the person's name. I battled this thing. Like, has my unwillingness to do that resulted in this person having more victims? Did they grow out of that? I definitely wrestle with that.

[Alex Cooper]

It is hard. And now. Now it's exactly almost a decade later that this happened. And if I'm scared to talk about this, can you imagine a woman who doesn't have my privilege? How the fuck is anyone feeling comfortable to talk about this?

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Alex Cooper]

To clarify again, I was no one when this happened to me. I had nothing. I had supportive parents, but I didn't have a platform. I didn't have money. And I came forward and I got denied. I was failed. I went to the athletic director, told him about this, and he basically told me to fuck off. He wouldn't even read it. So who am I to say, come forward.

[Monica Padman]

It didn't work.

[Alex Cooper]

It didn't work. And the fact that that athletic director is still there to this day, is she still there? So she retired. And I'll say this, which I didn't say in the documentary, why I decided to come forward with this is this documentary was actually really meant for me to just show the behind the scenes of my tour and how I got to where I am. Because the tour monologue in the beginning that I do is about the director was like, I want to bring your childhood in and show the rise of you. And when I opened in Boston, which was very symbolic, my tour, the director, I had lightly told her about my soccer experience, and she knew that I wasn't sure if I wanted to share it with her. And so she said, can you do me a favor? Can we just go back to the field and let's see what it brings up for you? We never have to use the footage. You never have to tell the story, but let's just go. And I was reluctant because I was just like, I don't know if I want to do all this. I'm also very aware I don't want this to come off as a victimhood story from someone that's privileged. I was like, ugh. And so we go back, and it's the first time that I saw Nickerson Field is what it's called. And I remember getting there and stepping foot on that field, and I felt so small. I felt like I was right back in it. And I have done years of therapy.

[Monica Padman]

And you're on top of the world. I mean, you. You currently are. And then you're immediately transported back to that old person.

[Alex Cooper]

This still is so painful and lives in me. And I just started crying. And that was the first. Because there's two. That was the first moment where I was like, I think I gotta talk about this. Because conversation has been the power in my life since starting Call her daddy. And it's how I've healed a lot of things. I've healed things with other people. And this is the one thing I'm like, I'm a fraud. How can I not talk about this? I gotta go there.

[Dax Shepard]

Stay tuned for more Armchair Expert if you dare. We are supported by Allstate. Some people just know they could save hundreds on car insurance by checking all state first. Like, you know to check your flights on time first before heading to the airport. Like, you know to check your presentation is safe first before closing your laptop. That's one mistake I'll never make again. Checking first is smart, so check all state first for a quote that could save you hundreds. You're in good hands with Allstate. Savings vary, subject to terms, conditions and availability. Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates, Northbrook, Illinois. We are supported by Better Help. You know, there's still a bit of surrounding stigma for men's health. I think it. I think so too still be challenging for men to admit they're struggling and seek help.

[Monica Padman]

I have a friend who just started therapy, a male friend, and he loves it so much and. But yes, I think it's taken and a little extra long because you're right, there is a stigma, but there really shouldn't be.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Men today face immense pressure to perform, to provide and keep it all together. So it's no wonder that 6 million men in the US suffer from depression every year. And it's often undiagnosed. If you're a man and you're feeling the weight of the world, talk to someone. A friend, a loved one, a therapist. I'm a man. I've benefited greatly from therapy and better help is a great option if you're looking to start start therapy. As the largest online therapy provider in the world, BetterHelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a diverse variety of expertise. Talk it out with Better help. Armchairs get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com Dax that's BetterHelp. H-L-P.com Dax, we are supported by Shipstation. We love to talk about tech and AI advancements on the show. And if you're still operating your shipping and fulfillment processes with last year's technology, have we got an ad for you. It's shipstation, baby. Lead your business into the future with smart features and automations that boost efficiency and save you time. Seamlessly automate repetitive tasks so you can work smarter, not harder. And you can seamlessly integrate with services and selling channels you already use and manage orders on one easy dashboard. We just shipped all of our last round of merch with Shipstation and it made customers Carly's life a breeze. Over 130,000 companies have grown their e commerce business with Shipstation and 98% of companies that stick with Shipstation for a year become customers for life. Calm the chaos of order fulfillment with the shipping software that delivers. Switch to ShipStation today. Go to ShipStation.com and use code Dax to sign up for your free trial. That's shipstation.com code DAX. There's nothing relatable about you signing a deal at serious. No, there's nothing relatable about you with this gorgeous stud Matt as a husband. None of that soothes anyone.

[Alex Cooper]

This is the real.

[Dax Shepard]

This is what the point is.

[Monica Padman]

So many people sadly have versions of this story and are not their own boss and have a platform and can't. So I think on behalf of all those people, it's so beautiful that you're.

[Dax Shepard]

And it's not even doing it. Yeah. It's not because you're going to encourage someone to stand up in some way. It's to say, she's done it, she talked about it, she's still alive and in fact, she's still thriving. And you go, maybe I could unburden myself a little bit. And people still like me.

[Alex Cooper]

I think that that was the true catalyst of. Holy shit. I talk to people every week about their trauma and things they've gone through and I've been so open on my podcast. But this thing, I was so nervous to talk about it because one retaliation when you come out and I'm naming her name and I don't know what she's gonna do, but I'm ready for that now. And it took me 10 years.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. And a war chest.

[Alex Cooper]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so I think retaliation was one thing where I, like, I don't know what Boss University and she are going to do, but I'm ready. I think the other part was I was very anxious to tell this because it's so emotional. And personal to me that I don't want it to be up for public fodder.

[Dax Shepard]

But you're going to find out that those opinions aren't coming your way.

[Monica Padman]

Also, if it does, it will be matched with so many people giving you so much gratitude, I don't even think.

[Dax Shepard]

It'S going to happen.

[Monica Padman]

Well, the Internet's gross, so I know.

[Alex Cooper]

Eventually I know what happened. And I'm so proud of myself for telling this story. I could have made it a docu series. There's so much more to this, but I really think it is such a huge part of why I am the way I am and why I have the conversations I do on my podcast. And I think people are a little dumbfounded of how I steered it a certain way. After all the sex and relationships, I'm like, to my core, I have a story within me that I've never been able to share. And if anything, I give back to all of my guests who have shared with me because I genuinely believe they have been what has allowed me now to be in the chair being like, okay, I'm gonna finally tell this. But the other side of it was, and this I didn't share in the documentary because I was like, this is a other part of it. But in the middle of filming the documentary, more information came to light and I got involved with the nwsl and I'm so excited. It was like a reclaiming moment for myself. Is that the soc, The National Women's Soccer League. And that was this beautiful moment where I got to re engage and go back to soccer. And how cool that it's with my hydration drink. And I'm the hydration league sponsor. And it was such a full circle moment for me to be like, wow, I can come back to the thing I love. And it was very emotional, even just going to these games. I'm meeting some of the legends of the sport, Abby Wambach and Brittany Chastain. But the first game of their opening season, I went to and I reconnected with a former teammate who plays professionally. And I gave her a heads up about the documentary. And I was just like, I just wanted you to know, I know you were a senior when I was a freshman, but this is what's happening. And she was like, cooper, I'm so fucking sorry. You know, it's still happening, right? And I just remember the whole field went dark and I just felt again, so small. Because you try to convince yourself it's just you. You rationalize, like, maybe it was just me. They're not going to keep doing it. And when I was at, at bu, Nancy Feldman was the head coach and there was an assistant coach at the time who was my assistant coach. And she watched the harassment. They'd be in chairs like this most of the time. It was one on ones. But there were a few times where my assistant coach was in the room. And I vividly remember a meeting that was getting uncomfortable. And I turned to her and I said her name and I said, help, please help me. And she physically turned her head away. She was, went on to become the head coach at bu and she just did the same thing, if not worse, to another woman on that campus. Of course, if you look up online, it says she resigned and she is now able to go and coach at any university. And I spoke to the player. It was a really hard conversation to hear that this is systemic. She watched Nancy have no, no ramifications, nothing. And she got to leave there. Her pictures are on the walls. She's retired. She's living life. She's a legacy. So why the would the assistant coach not follow right in her footsteps and do the same goddamn thing? There's not a public statement of all the people came forward and this is what happened and this is what this coach did. Nothing. She resigned. And that was the moment in the middle of filming the documentary where I called the director and I said, I'm ready.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, wow.

[Alex Cooper]

I'm ready to sit down and tell the story because it's no longer about me. It's going to keep going.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Alex Cooper]

My heart just breaks because speaking to victims again, I'm so aware of my privilege. And as uncomfortable as it is for me to tell the story because it's so not who I am public facing. I wish I could have been like, of course no one could do that to me because I'm Alex fucking Cooper and I'm going to tell you to go fuck it. Like, no, it happened to me. Yeah, it did.

[Dax Shepard]

Systems can be more powerful than people.

[Alex Cooper]

I remember saying to my mom the other day before this comes out, I just feel like everything I do on Caller Daddy, I want to always end it on a high note or a purpose or a call to action. And I was like, mom, I don't know what to tell people. I don't have the answer to every victim listening or watching. I know the fear of speaking up and not being believed or being denied and then losing everything. And I also know the fear of now not speaking up and losing yourself.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it's a lose, lose it's a.

[Alex Cooper]

Damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. I sat with that athletic director and explained this abuse of power. And they basically looked at me and said, tough shit. And for it to continue to happen now, I knew that's when I'm like, all right, let's fucking go. Because this is not just happening on college campuses for ncaa. It's everywhere. It is in the world workplace. It is in relationships. And when people are so confused, why didn't she do this or why didn't she do that? When there is an abuse of power, it is a ton on top of that victim. You have to climb Mount Everest and more to even feel like you have a sliver of a hope to be believed and actually be protected if you come forward. Because my story is I came forward and I was failed. So I the would anyone come forward?

[Dax Shepard]

Right.

[Monica Padman]

It's an impossible situation for people. I hate that. Like, well, why didn't they just quit? Cuz they've spent their whole life trying to get to that point. They're almost there. And you're picking your life or theirs.

[Alex Cooper]

Why did you stay in a work environment where your boss was sexually harassing you? Because it's my livelihood. Exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

Because they're paying my bills, handing out jobs at 7:11.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Good for you. Yeah, it's a lot.

[Dax Shepard]

I am very grateful that you made that decision because that was an incredibly compelling and heartbreaking part of the story. That is the reality.

[Alex Cooper]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I was just thinking, I'm sure I can't imagine what your parents felt like. The level I would want to kill somebody over that kind of stuff.

[Alex Cooper]

It's a lot. And I think it definitely had a lot of effects on me. After college, I had such a difficult relationship to my body and working out. I could not step on a treadmill because I just had this visual of we would always be in lines on treadmills and she would just stand at my treadmill and watch me run. And I loved running. I was fast. I loved it. And so to this day, I don't get on the treadmill because I can't. There's those little things. And then on top of that, when I went out into the workplace, before all of Coloradian had jobs, I found myself, which is not my personality, but I found myself, myself trying really hard to just blend in. And it wasn't even conscious. I was just making sure that I wasn't standing out.

[Dax Shepard]

You did not want to be someone's pet again.

[Alex Cooper]

And it was hurting me.

[Monica Padman]

It's the Girl with the red hair who had to blend in and then you escaped that and then you had to blend in for the opposite reason. It's. It keeps coming back.

[Alex Cooper]

It's so true. Never feeling completely good in my skin. That's been a theme in my life. I can say it now because it's not as much what color Daddy is, but at the beginning days, I did start to resent the character that I was building on, Call Her Daddy. When it was just about sex and relationships and I had a co host. Of course, a lot of it was true, but I was enjoying playing this fantasy character in my head and it was doing something to my ego and my confidence that was building me up because I loved that I could re engage with my sexuality and own it in a way that I really suppressed in college or around her. I felt disgusting. I felt horrible. I just was creeped out and it just was awful. And so Call Her Daddy was really this beautiful moment where I poured everything into. No one is going to silence me again. There was also this drive of like you. Exactly. I'm going to get so big and you are going to your pants every day that I'm going to tell the story and I'm going to one day. And I knew I was going to. It definitely took longer than I thought it was going to take. But that's also life. And everyone's got to go on their own time frame. And I'm still uncomfortable about it. I'm happy it's out there because I now know. I really feel like this will become something in my life that I take.

[Dax Shepard]

The dream is you stop judging yourself. I know for all the things pre during impost, you free yourself of that judgment. Well, I do want to say this. The doc also follows your tour. And I was thinking, this seems so natural for anyone on the outside. If they're a fan of yours and they listen to your show and you're very extroverted on the show show and you're confident on the show, they would just assume, well, of course you can go on stage and do a stage show. But I was thinking, watching this, this is an enormous swing for you. I was a ground lean first. I was on a stage every Sunday doing comedy. And when we walk out, we have a whole routine. I have to dial into the music and just be joyful about the music and then forget what's going to happen next. I've had a lot of stuff.

[Alex Cooper]

Stage experience. Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. So I totally admire that you're like.

[Alex Cooper]

Yes, we're going to do it in.

[Dax Shepard]

A humongous theater, and we're going to do it with a bunch of production. But were you terrified?

[Alex Cooper]

I was so nervous because in the school play, we had wizard of Oz and they made me a munchkin and I was in the back and you couldn't even see me. And I was like, I'm not meant to be on a stage. And then when this idea came, of course, I am such a crazy person and want to do everything tenfold. So I was like, it can't be a podcast tour. It needs to be theater. And Broadway meets Vegas and dancers and Magic Mike. And then when I got there at opening night, I was like, fudge me. What did I sign myself up for? I have no idea what I'm doing, but it was something that I like to push myself. I'm sure you're at this point in your career where it's like, just go for things. And I was really proud of myself. But no, I definitely know my fans probably thought it was easy for me. I really struggled when I would get off that stage. Matt was always just joking. He was like, I hope you don't get addicted to this, because you know how people love the, like, get the bug. After night one, I turned him. I said, don't worry, I'm not addicted. I never want to do this again. Only because it was the most magical thing to do it with my fans. But the pressure I was putting on.

[Dax Shepard]

Myself, it says looming over you.

[Alex Cooper]

I would lay in bed all day, eat chicken fingers and fudgeing, meditate and call my therapist five times to be like, I'm going to be okay, right? And when I was out there, I actually was enjoying it. But the minute I got off, off, I was like, I feel like the biggest introvert. Take me home and never let me do that again. It was truly one of the greatest experiences of my career, and I don't regret it for a second, but it was the most challenging thing I've ever done. A last point I'll give is I have to give so much credit to my husband. I couldn't do the things I'm doing without his support. He is my biggest fan. He is there for me in every, every moment, and he makes it so much more enjoyable than if I was doing it alone. Shout out, Matt, we love you.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, you guys have a very, very good working relationship. I can relate. Like, some people go, like, how do you work with? And I'm like, oh, no. Those are the easiest.

[Alex Cooper]

The easiest. People think I'm insane.

[Dax Shepard]

When I say that, it's very lucky, though I think for most people, they couldn't work.

[Alex Cooper]

Oh, no. You'd be like, I'm gonna kill you. Every morning, Matt and I are brushing our teeth. We're like, oh, man, how fun. We get to like go to the office together. And everyone's like, you're both ill. I'm like, well, we like it. We have fun.

[Dax Shepard]

Have you seen her husband?

[Monica Padman]

I don't think so.

[Alex Cooper]

Dax is in love with him.

[Monica Padman]

I guess I haven't.

[Dax Shepard]

Outrageously gorgeous.

[Alex Cooper]

That's the first thing you said to Matt when you met him.

[Dax Shepard]

The second I saw him at the airport, I immediately was like, oh my God, you're so gorgeous. And then I'm saying to you, good job. This guy's fucking gorgeous. And I think later I found out from him, he thought I was making fun of him. I'm like, no, no, no. I sincerely. But here's what's crazy, Monica. Yeah, it was deeper than just that. Because now as I've become friendly with them on the side trip, I start researching you both in my hotel room. And guess what I discovered.

[Monica Padman]

I know what you're going to.

[Dax Shepard]

You already know?

[Monica Padman]

I think so.

[Dax Shepard]

What?

[Alex Cooper]

You both dated the same person.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Alex Cooper]

You had.

[Monica Padman]

You share an ex lover that I am obsessed with.

[Dax Shepard]

And it's deeper than that.

[Alex Cooper]

What?

[Dax Shepard]

I then went, oh, yes, yes, yes. I've totally seen him before. Because the first time I ever saw her in real life, she was with him, dating. Look at this fucking guy. This guy has got it made. He's fucking gorgeous. Almost like, yeah, he plays college football. My. Oh my God. This guy, a college football player, that's his girlfriend and he looks like that. I became more obsessed with him that day than her. And then 25 years later, putting all this together, like, oh, yes, I've always been obsessed with this guy.

[Alex Cooper]

I am obsessed. No, your guys love affair is adorable.

[Monica Padman]

She's in this room.

[Alex Cooper]

I know. I see her behind you. Yeah, no, it's really cute.

[Dax Shepard]

And then I'm like, how do I now tell him tomorrow at breakfast, hey, I discovered this.

[Alex Cooper]

I know.

[Dax Shepard]

Researching you and I'm obsessed with you.

[Alex Cooper]

Mat that he's such an interesting guy. He's so shy and reserved at first, and then once you get to know him, he gets more open. But I remember at first he was literally like, oh, my God. I don't know what to say to that. I'm like, matt, he thinks you're hot. Take the compliment.

[Monica Padman]

He's like, okay, it's confusing for a Lot of men to hear it. And women.

[Dax Shepard]

I get it, too. I was like, well, you're assuming he feels as confident as he is visually, which no one is. And if someone came up to me, like, God, you're so fucking horseback. Yeah, okay, dude.

[Alex Cooper]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

What is this about?

[Monica Padman]

Or you think they're trying to assert some sort of power dynamic? I would feel like that.

[Dax Shepard]

I was just trying to bow to the beauty. I mean, a fucking beauty. He deserves it.

[Alex Cooper]

That is amazing, Hunk.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, I love the doc. I think it's so good. I don't think you should be nervous at all. I think everyone's going to really love it. You debut at Tribeca, Tribeca film festival.

[Alex Cooper]

On June 8, and then it comes out June 10 on Hulu, which is.

[Dax Shepard]

Now your second project you'll have at Hulu. You also have a dating show.

[Alex Cooper]

Yes, we have a dating show that we're actually about to start filming in Malta. And I just picked the cast. It's been so fun to cast a dating show because I'm such a dating whore. And I'm like, oh, my God, I love these shows. So to get to watch tapes and interview people and see who they are, I know multiple of these people. I'm like, your life is going to change. You're going to be so famous.

[Dax Shepard]

Right?

[Alex Cooper]

So it's very exciting. I'm not hosting it. We have a fun host that I can't announce, but it will be fun. And it's going to be on a boat in Malta. I'm like, this is hot.

[Dax Shepard]

It's called.

[Alex Cooper]

It's a working title right now, but basically it's Overboard for Love. But they're all on a yacht to be hot.

[Dax Shepard]

So, yeah, Hulu, I'm a sucker for those shows.

[Monica Padman]

They're fun.

[Alex Cooper]

They're fun.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, listen, I think we'll both say we're super flattered to be peers of yours.

[Alex Cooper]

Look how full circle when we met at Spotify, we were like. And now we're, like, hugging and we're friends.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. I'm rooting, rooting, rooting, rooting.

[Alex Cooper]

I'm rooting for you, too.

[Dax Shepard]

So happy for you.

[Alex Cooper]

Thank you.

[Dax Shepard]

All right, well, I thank you for having me. Yes.

[Alex Cooper]

Love you guys. Thank you. Oh, man, I cried.

[Dax Shepard]

I serve. Sure hope there weren't any mistakes in that episode, but we'll find out when my mom, Mrs. Monica, comes in and tells us what was wrong. Hi.

[Monica Padman]

Hi.

[Dax Shepard]

How are you?

[Monica Padman]

I'm good. How are you?

[Dax Shepard]

I'm good. My son's visiting.

[Monica Padman]

Yes, he is.

[Dax Shepard]

And we have One of our big nights planned for tonight.

[Monica Padman]

What are you gonna do?

[Dax Shepard]

We're gonna go with Eric and Nate to Morton's.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, and you're gonna have diarrhea.

[Alex Cooper]

Smoke cigarettes.

[Monica Padman]

You're not gonna smoke cigarettes.

[Dax Shepard]

Gonna talk on the phone at the T. Smoke cigarettes. Drink. I guess martinis is what you drink.

[Monica Padman]

That's right.

[Dax Shepard]

And then maybe some on the way out.

[Monica Padman]

A little harness.

[Dax Shepard]

But this night sky's the limit because Kristen and Lincoln are out of town. They're in New York.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And so it's me, Delta, and Aaron. We've dubbed it boy's time. She, in fact, insisted that he call her a boy yesterday.

[Monica Padman]

Okay, great.

[Dax Shepard]

This is guys time.

[Monica Padman]

Guys time. Okay, great.

[Dax Shepard]

This is bros time. A lot of bros time going on. But. So I asked Carly, can. Can Delta come over tonight so that I can go out to eat with the boys? Can she come hang at your house? And she's like, of course. And then Delta was immediately like, see if she. Is it okay if I have a sleepover?

[Monica Padman]

Fun.

[Dax Shepard]

So now they're having a sleepover, which everyone's excited about. So you're home alone, guilt free for me to have the night entirely off. So I don't know where this night will take Aaron and I, because I do have light fantasies of us tackling all the hiking trails on the electric motorcycles.

[Monica Padman]

At night.

[Dax Shepard]

At night. Because it's illegal. Can you just like, it sounds like such an adventure.

[Monica Padman]

Just watch tv?

[Dax Shepard]

No. What about an enchanted motorcycle ride under the moonlight? Why can't you just do enchanted in the deserted trails?

[Monica Padman]

Like, you have this beautiful house. You have a theater room. You have also an establishment. Not enough.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, it's enough.

[Monica Padman]

Now you're back to nature.

[Dax Shepard]

There you go. It's not. It's. I think it's in the right direction. It's back what we would do when we were broke.

[Monica Padman]

You could have just then done it and not had any of this stuff.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, but I didn't have electric motorcycle. It'd have to be a noisy endeavor in the past. But now we can do it quite peacefully. No one will be disturbed. And we could have a real adventure that few people have had. I'm just putting it out there. I don't even know that my son will be up for it. My son gets nappy, you know?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, he's a tired boy.

[Dax Shepard]

He gets tired and he's on a different time zone.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, true. I'm sorry if I'm grumpy. I have a big grievance. I don't. I don't know if I'm like, I feel kind of bad airing it, but I also don't feel bad because this is really, really bad.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, wow.

[Monica Padman]

Like a month or two ago.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

I booked a trip for Hawaii for July.

[Dax Shepard]

By yourself?

[Monica Padman]

Ish. So, like, I booked it and the plan was that Anna was going to come and that maybe some other people. Comedy turned into a thing.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

But I also knew I didn't really know my July schedule fully and that I would might have to cancel it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. What island did you pick?

[Monica Padman]

It was more about the hotel.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

I'm going to say it was. No, it was a Rosewood hotel. I've never been. Okay, looks beautiful. I've heard good, great things. So, you know, I pull it up, I book it, and now it seems that I will probably not be able to make that work. Well, definitely. So I went to cancel it. I called.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And they said, oh, you didn't book through us. And I was like, yes, I did. I went to the website and I booked it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And I know it was. I'm like looking at pictures. What? He was like, no, you booked through this. That's a travel agent. And I was like, o. Okay, well, regardless, can you cancel it?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

And he was like, well, you booked a non cancelable room or reservation. And I was like, what are you talking about? I. First of all, the fact that this isn't even booked through you is. Is majorly confusing to me.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Monica Padman]

Secondly, what. Like, I knew that I would. Would 5050 chance have to cancel. So I know this was not clear.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, yes, yes.

[Monica Padman]

And so then I. I get a hold of this agent, you know, this agency.

[Dax Shepard]

I. I'm gonna add to. To confirm your frustration. I often go to look at a hotel and I. And the first thing comes up and it says it. It's the name of the hotel. And then I go to it, and then I'll just happen to notice the web address and I'm like, wait, it wouldn't it say blank.com? there's a lot of places that masquerade as the actual hotel.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, exactly that. Okay, so that's now what I'm thinking happened. Like, I got like kind of scammed.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Because I then reached out to this travel agency, which I guess is. I mean, it was booked, so it's not like a scam. And that they just like took my money. But still. So I reached out and I said, hi, I need to cancel this reservation. They're saying it's non cancellable. I. There's no way that was clear. Mixed with I feel certain I booked on the website. So I don't know if this was parading as the website. And they said yes, you booked through us and it is non cancelable but we'll try to advocate on your behalf with the hotel. And then they came back and said like they can't do it. And I was like oh my God. Oh my God.

[Dax Shepard]

It's thousands.

[Monica Padman]

Too much money.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. For me not to also two months is plenty of time to cancel.

[Monica Padman]

I was like are you kidding me?

[Dax Shepard]

I understand a 24 hour cancel. I even maybe even understand like three days.

[Monica Padman]

I. I know a month. Get you a month change in advance. Mixed with the, the fact that like this is shady. This whole thing is shady. This is a nice hotel. Like do the right thing. I don't know. It really bothers me because they're like I can't and I'm like well you can. You just press cancel and you give me my money back.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Monica Padman]

It's not and I can't situation on this computer. Yeah. And I'm really freaking out because it's too much. It's like a lot of money.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

I can't go cuz we have work.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. No that's insane. And no one should be getting that amount of money for doing nothing.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly. I'm like so they're stealing my money. They're just about to steal way too much money for me.

[Dax Shepard]

You shouldn't even be able to sell a non cancelable exact.

[Monica Padman]

What is.

[Dax Shepard]

I mean I hate the airlines for the same reason. They'll give you like a credit and it's impossible to use the credit. We all know it's impossible.

[Monica Padman]

Possible.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. How about this? You refund when people can't use it or.

[Monica Padman]

Okay again you're right. I get if it's like you can't cancel within.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Three days, five days, even.

[Dax Shepard]

Even two weeks. You would accept in this case.

[Monica Padman]

In this case I would accept that a month in change. So honestly this is a cautionary tale and I, I mean I'm maybe not going to say it yet but I might say it in the next video. Fact check. Evan. The, the company cuz really like everyone needs to be on the lookout for this because I had and I'm not a dumb dumb.

[Dax Shepard]

If they offer one that's not cancelable there should literally be a pop up screen that says are you sure you want to book a non cancelable flight? Like now they make it clear when you buy an airline ticket. I appreciate that.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

You can do Flexible rate. It's more. And then I'll go. If you get that charge of, like, God, am I really going to commit to this? I'm not going to change it. And I am a cheapskate.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

So I generally don't. I don't ever get the flex option.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Or the.

[Dax Shepard]

I'm just going to stick to this plan no matter what.

[Monica Padman]

Y.

[Dax Shepard]

But no hotel. I'm. I'm operating under the broad assumption that, yes, of course you can cancel a hotel room.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And how about this? If they don't refund your money, they should have to send you a picture every day of that room. Room being vacant. They should not be allowed to. Then sell it.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Like, okay, I'll keep it. Send me a picture of my room every day. Because if you put someone in there, then we don't have a problem.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, that is frustrating.

[Monica Padman]

Frustrated. And I don't really know what to do. And I'm feeling, like, a level of anxiety around it that is hovering and. Because it feels very unjust.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Monica Padman]

And this. This should not matter at all. All this shouldn't matter. It doesn't matter. But I do feel compelled to say that I stay at a Rosewood hotel in New York a lot. Also not a cheap hotel. So they have a lot of my money.

[Dax Shepard]

Like, they know you're valuable.

[Monica Padman]

Do the right thing.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. They know you're a valuable customer.

[Monica Padman]

Yes.

[Dax Shepard]

And they will lose you. Right. You wouldn't book.

[Monica Padman]

Well, that's the thing. Because I'm going to. I need to book a trip to New York, and I am like, I might not stay with this group. And it's like.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

I don't know. I'm just. I don't know what to do. It's upsetting.

[Dax Shepard]

It is upsetting. That would upset me greatly. Yeah. That's very frustrating.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Thanks for understanding.

[Dax Shepard]

I wonder if you'll feel better, though, if we take electric motorbikes up the trail tonight. Like renegade boys. Bad boys.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, no. You're going to bring Frito.

[Dax Shepard]

No. I've been watching a lot of Steve Bruhl again lately.

[Alex Cooper]

Oh.

[Dax Shepard]

For people who didn't watch Steve Bruhl. Rule for your health. Spin off of Tim and Eric. It's so good.

[Monica Padman]

So funny.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. He goes. He goes to prison, and he says, those are all. He's talking to Warden. All these bad boys. You ever spank them? He's like, well, we don't spank. You ever spank their bottom? Cherry red.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, God.

[Dax Shepard]

He's obsessed with bad boys and hunks.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, of course he is. John C. Reilly.

[Dax Shepard]

John C. Reilly. Put your hands together. That might be the deepest character I've ever seen in a comedy. Is John C. Reilly as Steve Br.

[Monica Padman]

It's very funny.

[Dax Shepard]

And he mispronounces every word. He's talking to one doctor. He's like, doctor, Doctor. On sex. What is sex? And the doctor starts telling me. He goes, okay, but what about the Apprentice? When do we put the Apprentice? He calls a penis apprentice. And he calls gambling Grambling. He mispronounces, like, every fifth word.

[Monica Padman]

It's so funny. Very funny. Okay. Speaking of shows.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

I came across a very sexy show.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Recommended to me by a friend. I won't out her, and that's a feather in her calf.

[Dax Shepard]

Whoever recommended.

[Monica Padman]

I agree, I agree, I agree. But, yeah, she asked me if I'd seen the show and I should give it a try.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

It's called Tell Me Lies. I think people might what, know it. It's on Hulu.

[Dax Shepard]

It's on Hulu.

[Monica Padman]

Yes. And it is so sexual.

[Dax Shepard]

Really? Like, what are we talking about? There's a lot of scenes of. Or a lot of flirting scenes or the whole package.

[Monica Padman]

A lot of scenes.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, both, but a lot of nudity.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, there's a lot of nudity. Like, there are scenes where I'm, I'm, like, shocked we aren't seeing, Seeing vagina. The vagina or the actual penis. Like, we're seeing so much body that the fact that they're able to make it exactly covered right there is a feat.

[Alex Cooper]

It's a science.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, it is a science. Anyway, it was very sexy and.

[Dax Shepard]

And it worked for you.

[Monica Padman]

It was working.

[Dax Shepard]

Because sexy stuff on TV always runs the risk of being very cheesy.

[Monica Padman]

I don't know if the show's good.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure. That's okay. That's not what you're there for.

[Monica Padman]

That's not why I'm there. Yeah, yeah. I'm there for the, the sexiness.

[Dax Shepard]

Like, you don't care how the steak is at Long John Silver's. You want to know what this, what the fish is like?

[Monica Padman]

Do you?

[Dax Shepard]

The hush puppies?

[Monica Padman]

Sure. Yeah. I, I.

[Dax Shepard]

What's the age group of the people that are fun?

[Monica Padman]

Oh, yeah. So it's, it's set in college. That's another thing. It's set in college. It made me miss college so much.

[Dax Shepard]

And did it make you think, like, I want to go back to college and this time I'm going to be a slut?

[Monica Padman]

Kind of. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

That would be the fantasy.

[Monica Padman]

I Think. But you know, it's not me.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I know. Like, I wonder if I would even have the same nostalgia for that kind of thing. Because, like, I did. I did do whatever I wanted.

[Monica Padman]

No, because it's not. That's not what's actually causing the nostalgia. Like, the sex. It's the. The, like freedom. No, the excitement. Like, the first episode is their first day and they're moving in and it's just like, God, the life ahead. The excitement of being on your own, but with your friends and you're protected, but you're dangerous and you're going to bars and you're going. Oh, yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

You loved college.

[Monica Padman]

I just love, loved it.

[Dax Shepard]

Stay tuned for more armchair expert if you dare. We are supported by zip recruiter o get recruited. It's summertime, baby. And one of the best times of year. The weather, vacation, jobs. Okay, maybe not everyone is excited about jobs, but summer jobs are a rite of passage. I detassled corn.

[Monica Padman]

You sure did. I worked at a law firm. Oh, wow.

[Dax Shepard]

Unconventional. Whether it's a lifeguard, a drama camp counselor, or a tennis instructor, seasonal businesses are in need of employees with specific skills. And that's not always easy to find. Whether you're hiring for one of these roles or any other role. How do you find top talent before the competition gets them? ZipRecruiter. ZipRecruiter's powerful matching technology does a deep dive to identify top talent for your roles. And if we're talking about that lifeguard position, the dive's gotta be extra deep for safety reasons. I'll see myself out. Gear up for summer with ZipRecruiter's high speed hiring tools. See why 4 out of 5 employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. Just go to this exclusive web address right now to try ZipRecruiter for free. Ziprecruiter.com Dax Again, that's ZipRecruiter.com Dax ZipRecruiter the smartest way to hire. Yeah, for me, it's different because a. By the time I got there, I was already older, right? And then also I was. My mother gave me so much freedom. So I was already, like, traveling around the country doing road trips. And, you know, I had so much freedom that, like, going away to college to me didn't represent, like, freedom. Finally, it's like I kind of had a lot of freedom, but it's free.

[Monica Padman]

It's a very specific kind of freedom that is. That creates the euphoria.

[Dax Shepard]

It's like going on spring break for four years.

[Monica Padman]

Yes, it is.

[Dax Shepard]

Is.

[Monica Padman]

And because your freedom is your decision making, but you still feel insulin. Well, at uga you do, because it's very. The campus. Go Dogs. The campus is gorgeous. And it's like. It's not in a city, which I think is great. Like, I love that. It's very. It's its own thing. And there's a downtown. It's just all bars and restaurants. And you're just. It's. It's heaven. It is so, so fun.

[Dax Shepard]

You should move back to Athens Wood and just live there. Yeah. Just feel.

[Monica Padman]

When I go back and I like, walk the campus, I get so. I get so fluttery.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

It's such a special. It's such a special place. Anyway, so it's set in college.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't have that. Yeah. I go back and I like it a lot. And I remember feeling, you know, that I can't believe I'm here feeling when I was there.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Which. That's a nice memory.

[Monica Padman]

Of course. You're proud of yourself.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, I was proud of myself. I kind of almost couldn't believe I was there. I felt like they might sniff me out. And then anthro is quite exciting. So I like the intellectual stuff. I was. But, yeah, I didn't have. I didn't go to bars with friends and go booty pumping.

[Monica Padman]

Well, you see, LA is not that kind of campus. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

No.

[Monica Padman]

And a lot of these schools that are very prestigious but that, like. And that I would maybe want to go to in some part of my brain, like, NYU is not like that. It's just all across the city. So there's something so great about it, like being its own thing. I wonder if. If. If you came to Athens now and you walked to the campus, what you. How you would feel? I bet you would feel like, oh, this is really cool.

[Dax Shepard]

I spent a lot of time in Athens.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. But.

[Dax Shepard]

But not walking around the campus.

[Monica Padman]

You were high.

[Dax Shepard]

No, I was.

[Monica Padman]

You were drunk. I was working, so I was. And also drunk.

[Dax Shepard]

I wasn't quite an alcoholic yet.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, really?

[Dax Shepard]

Those trips. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Well, then you. Oh, so you were young.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I would go there to work.

[Monica Padman]

Too young. You were too young to understand. Probably.

[Dax Shepard]

Probably too young. I mostly remember the chickens that would fall off the semis.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. The stinky. The Loop. They call that the loop.

[Dax Shepard]

Big poultry center.

[Monica Padman]

It smells so bad.

[Dax Shepard]

I love it so much.

[Monica Padman]

I miss it so much. Anyway, so. Sexy show. Sexy show.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you have a particular person? Just all the scenes. All the scenes are Titillating. They all work. Or have you locked on to a certain protagonist?

[Monica Padman]

Or there's a. There's the main guy. He is Katey Seagal son in real life. And, yeah. He's, like, broody and hot, and he has a Ben Affleck quality.

[Dax Shepard]

A little bit naughty.

[Monica Padman]

He's a bit naughty.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, I wonder if he would be good for you.

[Monica Padman]

I obviously Googled him. He's 29, so he's not for me. No. That's young for me.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, that's fine.

[Monica Padman]

That's him.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Right now in the show, he has short hair. This is him with long hair.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. A little even more bad boy.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. I wonder if they ever have a spank his bottom. Cherry rat.

[Monica Padman]

He sounds exactly like Frito.

[Dax Shepard]

There's some overlap. I mean, like, neither of them are in Mensa, I think, even though he's a doctor, which. The greatest part is he's a doctor somehow. Sure. But I wanted to say earmark when you said it out loud, because you're referencing. Oh, have you started the Pee Wee Herman documentary?

[Monica Padman]

No.

[Dax Shepard]

His life is so interesting. And he went to CalArts from Florida.

[Monica Padman]

Oh.

[Dax Shepard]

And. Well, a. He's older than I would have thought. Right. I guess, because he was playing a kid, but he was at calart. Calarts. And you see these scenes, and he was in these play. And his cast members were David Hasselhoff and Katey Sagal and someone else. And they're all like. It's so fun to see them at CalArts.

[Monica Padman]

Wow.

[Dax Shepard]

And they all made it. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Fun.

[Dax Shepard]

There was a fourth person, but I love the notion of each person carved out the such different niches. Niches.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

And Katie's like, a tremendous actor. Hasselhoff is Baywatch.

[Monica Padman]

Come on.

[Dax Shepard]

Peewee Herman is the most unique thing in what he did.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Alex Cooper]

Elvira.

[Dax Shepard]

Elvira. Elvira. You're a little too. Are you too young for Elvira?

[Monica Padman]

I know the name.

[Dax Shepard]

She was humongous. She was like. I guess she. She would remind you of someone on the Adams family.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I thought she had big boobs that were out. I was on a trip once. Work. She was there as her normal person herself.

[Monica Padman]

And she was Sandra Peterson.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, I think she was also. She was in the Groundlings. I don't know if she was at CalArts, but she was in the Groundlings. Look at that makeup.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I know about her. I thought that. I thought Elvira was like a character in a movie or something.

[Dax Shepard]

She is a character, and she would pop up in things.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

She's a Little bit like Pee Wee Harmon. Like, oh, character that went everywhere. And then you come to find out that yeah, Paul Rubens was. He was like Pee Wee was a full time character a lot before he was even that character. It was very.

[Monica Padman]

Also rest in peace. Yeah, that's sad.

[Dax Shepard]

Really sad. Great doc though. I'm excited to watch.

[Monica Padman]

How do we know how he passed cancer? Sad.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

He was only 70. That's too young.

[Dax Shepard]

It is too young, but I wouldn't have thought he was 70. In my mind. Pee Wee Herman's probably currently 58.

[Monica Padman]

I think Pee Wee Herman's always been 70.

[Dax Shepard]

You do?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

That's my 12 year age gap on you.

[Monica Padman]

Well, no, it's because he looks so strange as Pee Wee Herman.

[Dax Shepard]

Because he's a boy, but he's a man.

[Monica Padman]

I know. I don't get it.

[Dax Shepard]

Just to remind anyone who didn't hear my retelling of when I showed my.

[Monica Padman]

Kids, Peter was there for this. And I was also seeing it for.

[Dax Shepard]

The first time and everyone was confused.

[Monica Padman]

None of it made any sense.

[Dax Shepard]

And then I got to see it through Yalls eyes, which I was like, oh, yeah. I guess I never did figure out whether he's a boy or not. He's. He rides a bike around, but he does he live on his own, but he's a boy also.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. If you go. If you like search Peewee Herman. You know when it gives an over you and it has like Wikipedia, like the. The family says Herman Herman father. Yes, but deceased.

[Dax Shepard]

The dad is deceased.

[Monica Padman]

But like is he real? Aren't these characters.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, wait, now I'm confused.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I think this is like Peewee Herman's dad. Herman Herman.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, on the show he was Herman.

[Monica Padman]

Herman and it's deceased. Did he like.

[Alex Cooper]

What's going on?

[Dax Shepard]

I don't know. I don't know.

[Monica Padman]

Oh my God. The sister's name's Herman Hermione. On the show, Peewee sister's name is Hermione.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Yeah. He's a really interesting story where he was fully out of the closet.

[Monica Padman]

Peewee or Paul. Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

And then went back in the closet.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, really?

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Well, is it that he went back in the closet or he became bi. No, before by was a thing.

[Dax Shepard]

No, no, no. He. He went back in the closet. Oh yeah. Which is so weird because. Because he like became self conscious. It's just about it. Which is so fascinating. You would never think.

[Monica Padman]

Oh my gosh. Do you think it's because he didn't like the idea that like Peewee was them being associated with being gay.

[Dax Shepard]

Because that's what I would have assumed. Right. Like, oh, you gotta protect kids from this in the 80s. Peewee can't be gay.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly.

[Dax Shepard]

That would have been my assumption. But no, it was more. He fell in love.

[Monica Padman]

Oh.

[Dax Shepard]

And he lost himself. He lost all of his ambition by just being happily in love. But the relationship wasn't perfect as none are. And I think he got to a point where he's like, what happened? I think his own dad said to him, like, Herman, Herman, Herman, Herman said, I'm happy for you, but I think you've lost all your ambition. I think this relationship can't be the only thing you're pursuing in life.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, wow.

[Dax Shepard]

And so I think. I think he maybe felt like if he were satisfied in that domain, he wouldn't have been as ambitious in the other.

[Monica Padman]

That's interesting.

[Dax Shepard]

And then he had this kind of character that was Pee Wee before the makeup and everything. But he would be on, you know, he'd be on other guest starring on shows and he's kind of acting like Pee Wee or he's on a. He went on the Dating Game as Pee Wee as like a bit. And the girl picked him up.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, yes. Girl wanted to date Peewee.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. Before we knew what Peewee was.

[Monica Padman]

We still don't know what he is.

[Dax Shepard]

We don't. No one will ever go see a boy. Boy shouldn't be on the date.

[Monica Padman]

Exactly. It gets so complicated so quick when you start pulling the thread of Peewee.

[Dax Shepard]

Of Peewee.

[Monica Padman]

Like PE is such a stupid name. It's really funny.

[Dax Shepard]

It is. Yeah. There's a reason I've already forgot it. He's stole it from, I want to say, some toy or something he had. So he's an adult, but he's calling himself Peewee?

[Monica Padman]

I can't.

[Dax Shepard]

It's a little perverse.

[Monica Padman]

It is. It starts to.

[Dax Shepard]

You're starting to feel the hidden. The closet is seeping other places.

[Monica Padman]

But it just because. But then it doesn't mean he was a pedophile just because he was gay.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, I'm not saying that at all.

[Monica Padman]

I know, but Peewee.

[Dax Shepard]

Peewee is like, I want to be dancing on pedophilia if you hook up with him.

[Monica Padman]

Right.

[Dax Shepard]

Harmonica brand. 1 inch.

[Alex Cooper]

Harmonica brand is where the name came from.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, right.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, well, it's a harmonica.

[Dax Shepard]

He had a harmonica. And the brand name was Peewee. And I think that was part of his. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

I might watch that after I finish my sexy show.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. If you have anything left.

[Monica Padman]

If I have any juice in the tank.

[Dax Shepard]

If you don't shrivel up and die. They would say boys would go blind for masturbating. I don't know what they say said about women. What would that happen to them? Would they shrivel up, die of dehydration?

[Monica Padman]

No. I think it's like we get to. Because we have multiple orgasms.

[Dax Shepard]

Right. But the going blind was a threat. Like it's basically a deterrent for masturbating. You'll go blind.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

I don't even understand that.

[Alex Cooper]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

It's like syphilis. I think it's like you get. Give yourself syphilis.

[Dax Shepard]

Sure. Something. But what were they saying to girls?

[Monica Padman]

Like, you're a slut. You'll never find love.

[Dax Shepard]

You're a. You're nasty. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

You're disgusting. And you stink.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. And when you join me in the bedroom.

[Monica Padman]

Well, we have. There's an upcoming episode that's sexy. So this is. Ooh. This is like.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, it's in the air.

[Monica Padman]

It's in the air. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Spring, summer. It's a time.

[Monica Padman]

Summer fling. Spring.

[Dax Shepard]

What episode are you on in this section?

[Monica Padman]

4.

[Dax Shepard]

How many are there?

[Monica Padman]

I don't. That's a good question. I mean, one of the episodes is called.

[Dax Shepard]

It's called eat my ass.

[Monica Padman]

No. Take up. What is. What is it? Take off your pants. Is it. Take off your pants. Take off your pants and jacket.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. That's a blink 182.

[Monica Padman]

It's. It's like a thing in. You say in fifth grade.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Is the name of a episode, take.

[Dax Shepard]

Off your pants and jackets.

[Monica Padman]

Like it's essentially porn.

[Dax Shepard]

I think these are songs, titles from bands because they've got Sugar. We're going down swinging as a song.

[Alex Cooper]

That was a Blink 182 song. Take off your pants and jacket.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, it was. They took it from the fifth graders.

[Dax Shepard]

Rob anchored it out of the perverse into the music.

[Monica Padman]

You did. Thank you. But they. They're doing it.

[Dax Shepard]

They're playing games. Reindeer games.

[Monica Padman]

They're nasty. Nasty.

[Dax Shepard]

Do you want to do facts?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. I think we should move into facts.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Wonderful.

[Monica Padman]

Alex Cooper.

[Dax Shepard]

Facts.

[Monica Padman]

There really aren't very many facts at all because this was such a personal story.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Could you make some up? Because is. Groot's here.

[Monica Padman]

Groot's here. And I. I do feel sad that he's here for one where there aren't that many facts. And I know he's looking to me to give facts.

[Dax Shepard]

I've told him that you have all the facts.

[Monica Padman]

I know.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

But I don't want to make up facts. Because I'm very honest.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. That's another quality of Monica's is she's very honest and she has a lot of integrity. He's so happy. He doesn't mind, this guy. Can he. You can't really ruffle his feathers. Yeah. I think everyone should have a group.

[Monica Padman]

I know.

[Dax Shepard]

Everyone should carry one around.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. So we do. We talk about couples therapy at the beginning of the show. And since then we've both. Have you finished it?

[Dax Shepard]

I haven't finished it.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. Since then I've started and finished it. I also did what Alex did. I watched the whole thing. One sitting in one fell swoop, as I tend to. Do you.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. You do this always.

[Monica Padman]

I do.

[Dax Shepard]

And so my question to you is, are you only allowed to start things at like 4pm as a rule because you know what you're gonna do.

[Monica Padman]

No, I don't.

[Dax Shepard]

You lie to yourself.

[Monica Padman]

I lie.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes.

[Monica Padman]

I lie to myself. And it really fucks me over. I mean, so this happened with you.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Don't show on Netflix.

[Dax Shepard]

This is gonna be a battle.

[Monica Padman]

But listener Dax really hates it now that we're living.

[Dax Shepard]

And I've expressed it and I've asked very kindly and gently if she says if she could say the show you or the Netflix show you. But she always just says, says you and looks right at me. And then just like the Laura Ingram.

[Monica Padman]

I do because I want to live in that. That video.

[Dax Shepard]

You want me to go? So stupid.

[Monica Padman]

Oh.

[Dax Shepard]

Stupid. We've never done a show on measles. Also, how was there a fudgeing episode of you about measles?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, there was.

[Dax Shepard]

Isn't about a serial killer. Yes, but did he infect someone with measles to kill?

[Monica Padman]

No. I'll. I no spoilers. But a kid gets measles.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, okay. Because of this is like a C storyline.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. And one of the seasons, a kid gets measles by a family that is unvaccinated.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Which leads to the demise of that family.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Now I have finished you. It was five seasons. I finished it.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay.

[Monica Padman]

And by the end I was like, I have to finish this tonight because this is interfering with my well being. I am up so late. I feel hungover the next day. Like when you kid goes to a sleepover and they get no sleep and then the next day they're just like, dead.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

That's when what my life was.

[Dax Shepard]

So I feel you've been kind of in a. In a fog.

[Monica Padman]

I don't know what's been going on.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Other than, like, what he's been doing. Joe Goldberg.

[Dax Shepard]

Okay. Huh.

[Monica Padman]

And.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, you're not going to believe this. This was completely unimaginable when you entered your fog.

[Monica Padman]

Huh?

[Alex Cooper]

What?

[Dax Shepard]

But Elon and Trump are no longer friends.

[Monica Padman]

What? I can't even imagine how that could happen. What a shock. Two reasonable people. I can't believe it.

[Dax Shepard]

From the second they became best friends.

[Monica Padman]

I was like, duh.

[Dax Shepard]

What is the. What's the over under friendship?

[Monica Padman]

I know. Just craziness. Anywho, I really enjoyed it. And I. I have to say, Penn Badgley, really hot.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh. I was like, is she gonna say great actor or sexy?

[Monica Padman]

I actually was gonna say great actor.

[Dax Shepard]

Great actor.

[Monica Padman]

It is. That role is tough. He has to play so many facets. Evil, but. But kind. In love like that. Because that's what's, like, propelling all this. He convinces himself he's in love. He's doing all this out of love, and you believe him. Which is weird because it's just. It's very complicated. I heard him just do an interview before I saw the show. I heard him do an interview where he was basically like, I'm really ready to be done with this show.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, okay.

[Monica Padman]

And I thought it was.

[Dax Shepard]

Maybe they shouldn't have had him on the promo tour.

[Monica Padman]

I thought it was kind of like, that sounds sort of ungrateful. And then I watched it and I was like. Of living in that head for that long. He said he started when he was 30 and he's about to be 40. This is like 10 years of time.

[Dax Shepard]

Wow.

[Monica Padman]

Of a. That's heady.

[Dax Shepard]

That reminds me. There was a moment on week three of Seth and Matt and I's promotional tour from Without a Paddle, which I know when they were on. We discussed a little bit how loony we all went by the end where I punched Matthew in the middle of an interview with a boxing girl. And there were starting to be some murmurs of. That's also the. The tour that I got kicked off Conan on.

[Alex Cooper]

Oh.

[Dax Shepard]

And I think there was definitely some. Some murmurs of, like, it might be time to pull them from off the road because they might start damaging.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Seems like you were. Wow. Anyway, that's a ding, ding, ding, because Pen's been on Call her daddy.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, he has.

[Monica Padman]

So anyway, I finished that and then I watched Sirens in One Day.

[Dax Shepard]

I want to see that. Is it good?

[Monica Padman]

I. Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

What if that was on the poster? A Monica Penman. Did you like it? Ay yi yi. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

To me, a kind of a slowish start. Ish. But by the end, I really, really liked the message. I liked what they did. It's only five episodes, limited series. I cannot get enough of Megan Fahey. I love, love her. White Lotus, Season two.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

[Monica Padman]

I think she's such a good actress. She's so expressive, but. But also very natural. I can't get enough of her.

[Dax Shepard]

Well, I love her.

[Monica Padman]

I love her.

[Dax Shepard]

I love them.

[Monica Padman]

Anywho, so I watch all of Sirens and. And, yeah, I watch all of Couples Therapy, and now I'm out of shows.

[Dax Shepard]

You've done about 50, 50, 150 hours of TV. You said you started the Pit.

[Alex Cooper]

I know. You know what?

[Monica Padman]

You're right. The Pit got me back into tv.

[Dax Shepard]

I know. Cause you were kind of out around New Year's and I didn't like that. But then, now you've gone so hard. I don't know about that.

[Monica Padman]

Why can't you just accept me for who I am?

[Dax Shepard]

I do, but it. What's so lovely about you is whatever you're doing is coming out. So it's like every guest, we gotta find out if they like the Pit and then you.

[Monica Padman]

One thing about the show that's great is it does explore the original question. When I first brought up the show and I was like, it's weird. Like, he's hot. And I know he's not supposed to be hot.

[Dax Shepard]

You feel bad for vigilantes.

[Monica Padman]

I feel bad and then. But I am against vigilantes in real life. You know that whole conversation that it sparks, it answers, it.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, it does.

[Monica Padman]

It kind of goes right at that.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, good.

[Monica Padman]

And in the finale, that whole idea of us as a society doing that is addressed.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, fun.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. It's a good.

[Dax Shepard]

Before you stop over consuming tv, we please watch Mobland so we can talk about something.

[Monica Padman]

I want to talk about it with you, but I don't think it's for me.

[Dax Shepard]

It is. It's for everybody. It's like Game of Thrones. It's awesome.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. I really.

[Dax Shepard]

It's so good. Every single person watching it is, like, obsessed with how good it is.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. Think about it.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah. Okay.

[Monica Padman]

Anyway, couples therapy, Great show, Great season.

[Dax Shepard]

Friend of the Pod.

[Monica Padman]

Orna. Friend of the Pod.

[Dax Shepard]

Oh, when I posted that picture of Groot, someone wrote, groot, friend of the Pod. Made me so happy.

[Monica Padman]

He is a friend of the Pod. He is.

[Dax Shepard]

He had that whole story. He's like a friend of the Pod.

[Monica Padman]

Sure. Well, now he really is friend of the Pod. Means you've been on the podcast. So he is now A real friend of the pod.

[Dax Shepard]

I think you can be a character and be a friend of the pod. Like, Amy Hansen's never been on the show. Oh. But she's definitely a friend of the pod.

[Monica Padman]

That's not how I use.

[Dax Shepard]

That's not your definition. That's fair. Yeah.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. So couples therapy is a fact that it's good and that people should watch it.

[Dax Shepard]

That is a fact. Did I tell you the funny thing about Jerry Springer? That doc? You didn't watch it. Right. But you saw it, I'm sure, on Netflix. It was, like, always at the top for a while.

[Monica Padman]

Okay.

[Dax Shepard]

It's fucking wild. It's one of these situations where it's like you're reminded of what we live through and how normal it seems, but is absolute insanity.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

You know, skinheads hitting people with chairs, naked chicks out there. I mean, it was bonkers. But what was so funny is one of the segment producers was saying they did have people come on that were lying. Right. Cause they just wanted to be on Jerry Springer. And she's saying, you know, these people that came online. She goes, it serves me right. Because I had broken our rule. We had an official rule. Nobody from Boston's allowed.

[Monica Padman]

Oh, my go. God, that's great.

[Dax Shepard]

That fucking cracked me up so hard. Like, as a whole city, you're too fucking untrustworthy to be on Jerry Springer.

[Monica Padman]

What is it about Boston? Because there's other cities that, to me, are the same.

[Dax Shepard]

Boston's. I think Boston's wilder than any city. The folks in Boston are wild.

[Monica Padman]

Even more than Miami.

[Dax Shepard]

Yeah, they're a different kind. I mean, like Southie and Charleston and all. I mean, it's just. They go. They go hard, but so does.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, I guess. I mean, I guess it's just funny.

[Dax Shepard]

I've been to all these cities and. And I'll tell you that Boston is the place that I am most on high alert. There's always a young dude that's ready to pop off and do something absolutely crazy. That just seems standard.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. Good. While hunting.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes. And. And. And I relate to them because they're like. When I always try to say, like, if you think you're white trash or you've been called white trash, you come to own that and enjoy the fact that you're. You're. You're make. You're disgusting. These fancy people, somebody, you just got to go, like, oh, yeah, I'm disgust, you know?

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. You're owning it.

[Dax Shepard]

I feel like just as an ethos, they've. They've embraced that a bit.

[Monica Padman]

Okay. Redheads and anesthetic. Redheads have been found to be more resistant to local anesthetics like lidocaine, and many may need more systemic anesthesia like inhaled anesthetics to achieve the same level of sedation. This is thought to be related to the MC1R gene mutation, which also determines the red hair color and may influence pain sensitivity. Also. That's it. Not very many facts because, again, it was a very personal story and we're grateful we got to hear it. Really candid and lovely.

[Dax Shepard]

Yes, yes, yes.

[Monica Padman]

And I'm sorry that she. She went through that.

[Dax Shepard]

It's fucking. I hate it.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah.

[Dax Shepard]

Like the thing you've dedicated your whole life to, your greatest love in life, it's completely taken from you.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah. It's really unfair.

[Dax Shepard]

I hate it.

[Monica Padman]

Yeah, all right, all right.

[Dax Shepard]

But I don't hate you.

[Monica Padman]

I don't hate you.

[Dax Shepard]

I hate you.

[Monica Padman]

I love you.

[Dax Shepard]

The show.

[Monica Padman]

The show. Bye.

[Dax Shepard]

Follow Armchair Expert on the Wondry app, Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to every episode of Armchair Expert early and ad free right now by joining Wondry plus in the Wondry app or on Apple podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short [e-mail] this is.

[D]

Nick and this is Jack. We're best friends, ex finance guys and resident 90s experts. And every week on our podcast, the Best Idea yet, we're bringing you the untold stories behind your favorite products. For instance, can you guess which billion dollar fashion company went viral thanks to a rhinestone covered tracksuit? Or which cartoon turned four turtles into a global toy empire by accident? It started as a joke. Last one. Which cold beverage was so hated by Starbucks they actually ended up acquiring it? Spoiler. The Frappuccino. Howard Schultz apparently thought cold coffee was super lame and then he bought it. From Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Juicy Couture to the Orange Mocha Frappuccino, Join us every week to learn how your favorite things got made. Follow the best idea yet on the Wonder app or wherever you get your podcasts. And you can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondering Plus. And if this podcast lasts longer than 45 minutes, call your doctor.