Call Her Daddy Co-Creator Sofia Franklyn Reveals She Had an Abortion

Call Her Daddy co-creator Sofia Franklyn has spoken publicly for the first time about having an abortion, saying the experience left her struggling with “self-imposed exile and shame.”

The 34-year-old opened up about the ordeal in an exclusive excerpt from her forthcoming memoir, Daddy Issues.

Published by Vanity Fair on Thursday, the excerpt details Franklyn’s abortion in 2023 and the emotional impact that followed.

Franklyn began her account by acknowledging how difficult it was to discuss the subject, writing: “There’s no right way to talk about this.”

“Having an abortion isn’t like having a public scandal, nor is writing about it. I can usually reconcile the dark corners of my past, but my feelings around my abortion are, in many ways, still pending, and, frankly, it still feels very wrong to share publicly.”

“But I hope putting myself out there will free me from the self-imposed exile and shame,” she added.

Franklyn said she became pregnant by her boyfriend at the time and took abortion pills at home. She described bleeding “through two pads an hour” and said the available guidance did not prepare her for the emotional aftermath, which she called an “emotional clusterf**k.”

The host of the Sofia with an F podcast recalled being unable to recognize herself in the mirror. She said she chose to share her story in the hope that other women would feel less alone.

Franklyn explained that she had taken “the Chinatown version of Plan B” and therefore did not think she could be pregnant.

After a pregnancy test came back positive, she went to Planned Parenthood and immediately requested an abortion.

During a family birthday trip to the Amalfi Coast, she said she appeared “six months pregnant” because of the “post-procedure belly” she experienced.

Franklyn was approximately five weeks pregnant at the time. She told her mother about the abortion and wrote that the experience made her feel guilty.

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“I think about the so-called life I’m protecting by not having a baby—the partying, the numbing, the running. How can I bring new life into the world when I don’t live a life worth keeping myself?” she wrote.

She also said the abortion occurred around the time of her highly publicized fallout with former co-host Alex Cooper, who gave birth to her own child earlier this week.

Franklyn, who announced her engagement to a mystery man in September, became famous after launching the Call Her Daddy podcast with Cooper through Barstool Sports in 2018.

Their friendship and professional partnership collapsed in a bitter public dispute in 2020 during contract renegotiations, after which Cooper continued recording the raunchy podcast on her own.

Franklyn previously claimed that Cooper betrayed her while they were renegotiating a new agreement with Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy.

At the time, they were reportedly making a base salary of $75,000, plus bonuses. They were said to have wanted to leave the company because they wanted to pursue other opportunities, like book and TV deals.

While the podcast was on hiatus, rumors swirled that the co-hosts had ended up turning on each other.

Portnoy claimed in a podcast episode he offered them $500,000 each, with bonuses, and six months taken off their contract, with Cooper interested in taking the deal, but Franklyn was not.

Portnoy also said Franklyn’s boyfriend was stirring up trouble. Franklyn refused to accept the new deal that was offered to them, with Cooper returning to the podcast alone.

In June, Franklyn appeared on Jason Tartick’s Trading Secrets to talk about the infamous fallout, admitting she wishes she gave herself the ‘time to really heal or process what was happening,’ instead saying she ‘dove into work.’