Burnham is positioning herself as a protective mother who initially tried to take the high road but feels compelled to speak out now that Cooper's controversial behavior has resurfaced in the public eye.
This isn't just about old grievances—Burnham has picked her side in Cooper's current feud with Alix Earle, writing 'Team @alixearle all the way' and explicitly stating this is personal. She's capitalizing on momentum while she can get it.
The podcast mocking dates back to 2019 when Alessi was born; Burnham addressed the feud previously on her 'Unplanned' podcast in 2023; Cooper's rep did not respond to Page Six's request for comment as of publication.
Burnham waited years to fully air this out publicly, and now she's making sure everyone knows she hasn't forgotten—and neither should we.
Lauren Burnham is done staying quiet. The former Bachelor star took to TikTok on Friday to reveal she's still absolutely "furious" with Alex Cooper, the host of the wildly popular "Call Her Daddy" podcast—years after what started as a deeply uncomfortable bit about her unborn child spiraled into something she says crossed every conceivable line. The beef traces back to when Burnham and her husband Arie Luyendyk Jr. created an Instagram account for their daughter Alessi, now 6 years old.
According to Burnham, Cooper and her then-co-host Sofia Franklyn turned the couple's parenting choices into a recurring segment on the show—and the jokes got progressively darker. "They had this regular segment ongoing and they thought it would be funny to make fun of our unborn baby," Burnham explained in her TikTok video. But it didn't stop there.
She claims Cooper continued mocking Alessi after she was born, allegedly going so far as to sexualize the child and make deeply inappropriate comments on air. A 2019 clip that has since resurfaced on social media shows exactly what Burnham is talking about. In the segment, Franklyn can be heard mimicking baby Alessi for listeners while Cooper quipped that the couple was "prostituting" their daughter for money online.
The two hosts also accused Burnham and Luyendyk of "child abusing" their infant over the Instagram account—a claim that clearly still stings years later. "Make fun of us, don't care," Burnham said in her TikTok. "But they took it too far." At one point, Burnham seriously considered taking legal action against Cooper.
She was ready to hire a lawyer. But Luyendyk talked her out of it, arguing that addressing the controversy publicly would only amplify it—exactly what Cooper and Franklyn would have wanted. "I never said anything because he felt like if we addressed it publicly, it would only make it bigger," Burnham recalled.
"That's what they want." Ultimately, she and her husband decided to let it go, hoping the jokes would simply blow over as time passed. They didn't—or at least, not entirely. Cooper eventually stopped the bit, and the couple managed to move on with their lives.
But now that it's resurfacing again in the cultural conversation, Burnham isn't letting it slide anymore. The timing is notable: Burnham has already picked her side in Cooper's ongoing feud with social media personality Alix Earle, posting "Team @alixearle all the way" to her Instagram Stories along with a pointed message. "It's about time Alex Cooper gets called out," she wrote. "And yes, it's personal." A representative for Cooper did not immediately respond to Page Six's request for comment on Burnham's latest remarks.
