Popular podcaster Alex Cooper has alleged that she was sexually harassed by her soccer coach during her time at Boston University.
The revelation comes in her upcoming Hulu documentary, "Call Her Alex," set to premiere on the streaming platform on June 10, marking 10 years after Cooper said the ordeal took place.
In the documentary, viewed by Vanity Fair, Cooper alleged she endured three years of escalating sexual harassment by former head coach Nancy Feldman before eventually leaving the team in her senior year.
"I felt a lot of anger — anger at my coach, anger at my school, and anger at the system that allowed this to happen," she said in the documentary, according to Vanity Fair. "I don't think anyone could've prepared me for the lasting effects that came from this experience. She turned something that I loved so much into something extremely painful."
Feldman, who led Boston University's women's soccer program for 22 years before retiring in 2022, began to show what Cooper described as an unusual fixation on her starting in her sophomore year. Cooper was on the Terriers from 2013 to 2015.
In the documentary, Cooper claimed that Feldman repeatedly focused on Cooper's physical appearance, commenting on her hair and body instead of her athletic performance during game tape reviews.
In the preseason, Cooper said Feldman would "pull me in, just be staring at me, sit next to me on the couch, put her hand on my thigh."
She added, "I felt so deeply uncomfortable."
Cooper said she was attending Boston University on a full-tuition scholarship and felt that if she didn't follow Feldman's rules, she risked losing it.
The podcaster recounted one incident where Feldman allegedly asked if she had sex the night before, then benched her for most of a championship tournament after seeing a man drop her off on campus. Cooper alleged that whenever she tried to resist Feldman, she was warned, "There could be consequences," and claimed there were.
"It was this psychotic game of, 'You wanna play? Tell me about your sex life. I have to drive you to your night class; get in the car with me alone,' " Cooper said in the documentary. "I started trying to spend as little time as possible with her. Taking different routes to practice where I knew I wouldn't run into her. During meetings, I would try to sit as far away from her as possible. Literally anything to not be alone with this woman."
Before her final year, Cooper said her family consulted lawyers, who called it sexual harassment but warned of drawn-out legal battles. Despite submitting documentation, Boston University officials reportedly refused to act, telling Cooper she could keep her scholarship but they wouldn't fire Feldman or investigate.
Cooper did not play soccer her senior year, while Feldman continued receiving coaching honors, including Boston declaring Dec. 11 "Nancy Feldman Day," until her 2022 retirement.
Cooper previously alluded to traumatic experiences involving her college soccer days in an interview with Cosmopolitan, saying, "With this specific thing, it's so personal to me and it took such a toll on my mental health."
Her documentary premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, where Cooper said during the Q&A that making the film motivated her to come forward.
"During the filming of this documentary, I found out that the harassment and abuse of power is still happening on the campus of Boston University, and I spoke to one of the victims, and hearing her story was horrific, and I knew in that moment, if I don't speak about this, it's going to continue happening" she said, according to Deadline.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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