Alex Cooper is sharing her side of the story while claiming she was sexually harassed by her former college soccer coach Nancy Feldman.
Cooper made the allegations against former Boston University soccer coach in her new docuseries, Call Her Alex, which premiered on Sunday, June 8, at New York City’s Tribeca Film Festival, sponsored by FIJI Water. Cooper, however, initially wasn’t sure if she wanted to open up about her past on the show, which streams on Hulu on Tuesday, June 10.
“I haven’t spoken about this and I’ve spoken about so much of my life, why haven’t I?” Cooper began, explaining that stepping back on the soccer field at the university was what led her to contemplate opening up her “wound” back up. “The way to heal it will be to talk about it. But the second phase of when I really knew that I need to speak about this because it’s so much bigger than me was 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.”
The “Call Her Daddy” podcast host played for the women’s college soccer team between 2013 and 2015, graduating from Boston University in 2017. Feldman retired from the college’s athletic department in 2022 after 27 years of coaching. Us Weekly reached out to Boston University, Boston University Department of Athletics and Feldman for comment about the allegations.
Cooper noted that sexual harassment is happing “on a larger scale” outside of the soccer field.
“I knew it was time to speak about it. And I was terrified. And I’m still terrified. I’m shaking. I feel like I’m a decent public speaker at this point but I’m scared. Because when I think about this woman, I still feel so small,” she said. “I also will say the last thing that pained me and why I didn’t come forward for a long time — which is many reasons — [but] another part of why I struggled was because the person who abused their power over me and harassed me is a woman. And I really struggled with that for a really long time because I didn’t want it coming out to undermine everything I stand for.”
She continued, “F*** the patriarchy. F*** misogyny. Like, will this take away from the message? And I now know it doesn’t. It is a position of power if someone is abusing it it’s wrong. Full stop. It doesn’t matter what sex, full stop. So I’m just happy I got that out there but I still feel anxious.”
Scroll down to see what Cooper has said about the alleged sexual harassment she faced:
Alex Cooper Accuses Her College Soccer Coach of Sexual Harassment
When Things Allegedly Took a Turn With Her Coach
Cooper alleged that “everything really shifted” during her sophomore year of college.
“I started to notice her really starting to fixate on me way more than any other teammate of mine,” Cooper claimed. “And it was confusing because the focus wasn’t like, ‘You’re doing so well, let’s get you on the field, you’re going to be a starter,’ it was all based in her wanting to know who I was dating, her making comments about my body and her always wanting to be alone with me.”
Cooper alleged that the focus would be on her during film sessions.
“We’re going to rewind my tape every five seconds and we’re going to talk about my hair, my body, ‘Look at those legs. Everybody look at Alex in her uniform.’ We would be in preseason. My assistant coach would come over: ‘Coach needs to talk to you.’ She would pull me in, just be staring at me. Sit next to me on the couch. Put her hand on my thigh. I felt so deeply uncomfortable,” she claimed. “After practice, ‘Alright, great work everyone. Alex, I want to see you in my office.’ I was attending BU on a full-tuition scholarship. If I didn’t follow this woman’s rules, I was gone.”
Cooper continued, “One morning, my coach found out that I got dropped off on campus by a guy I was seeing and she called for a private meeting between us. She asks me, ‘Did you have sex last night?’ and I’m like, ‘I’m sorry what?’ And she’s like, ‘I don’t know if you should be sleeping off campus.’ And I’m like, ‘All of the other girls on my team sleep off campus.’ I didn’t know what to do and every time I tried to resist her, she would say ‘There could be consequences.’ And there were.”
Cooper alleged that there was a game in the NCAA tournament against St. Johns where the coach didn’t play her as much and omitted references to her in the press conference about the game — despite her scoring.
“It was this psychotic game of, ‘You want to play? Tell me about your sex life. I have to drive you to your night class. Get in the car with me alone,’” Cooper claimed. “I started trying to spend as little time as possible with her … Anything to not be alone with this woman.”
Claims Coach Wanted to Dictate Who Cooper Lived With
When Cooper’s friend was kicked off the team with allegedly no explanation, she recalled “physically falling to the floor and having a panic attack” in their dorm room.
“I was so terrified of what was next,” Cooper said. “The coach brought me in the next day and said, ‘You see what I just did to your friend? You’re not going to live with her. You’re going to live with who I want you to live with. And you will not be seeing her anymore.’”
Considering Legal Action Against Coach
Cooper’s mom spoke about the alleged harassment in the doc. “I didn’t pick up that the coach had a personal issue with my daughter. And then once I knew it was personal, it took almost another year to figure out that there was a sexual component to the personal issue,” she said.
The family reached out to lawyers who claimed this was a clear case of sexual harassment.
“He said, ‘You can absolutely sue this woman. This is full sexual harassment, but, if I’m going to be real with you, they will drag this on for years, and this will be your life is you’re the girl that’s suing the coach. And they will do everything to protect this woman,’” Cooper recalled. “And so my parents and I sit down with the dean of athletics, and my mom and dad say, ‘Our daughter has been getting sexually harassed by Nancy Feldman for the past three years on this campus, and from freshman year to this day, I have chronologically written every single thing down that my daughter has called me about and cried about that this woman has said and done to her. Open it if you want. Start from page one.’ They kind of just side-eye looked at each other. And they say, ‘What do you want?’ And meanwhile, I’m like, read the book. Why do you not want to read the book? They won’t even touch it.”
Cooper explained that she wanted to play for her senior year, finishing what she’s worked her “entire life for.”
“But I can’t play for this woman,” Cooper said. “They said, ‘Well, we’re not going to fire her but you can keep your entire scholarship and that’s that.’ No investigation. Within five minutes, they had entirely dismissed everything I had been through. I got into the car with my parents and when the door shut I immediately broke down and started sobbing. And I said to my parents, ‘I’m done. I don’t ever want to see this woman again.’”
Lasting Effects
As footage played of Cooper going back to Boston University for the first time, she cried as she looked at the soccer field. She added, “It’s just hard to look at this because of how it was all taken away from me it just feels f***ed.”
“I don’t think anyone could have prepared me for the lasting effects that came from this experience,” Cooper continued. “She turned something that I loved so much into something extremely painful. When I look back at that time in my life, I was scared, hopeless. I had no resources and no options. And the minute I left that campus, I was determined to find a way where no one could ever silence me again.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
