Alex Cooper has left United Talent Agency (UTA) after more than six years, as the Unwell founder weighs her next representation just days after the media company secured a $500 million valuation, according to Bloomberg. 

Cooper is reportedly in talks with CAA but is also meeting with other agencies to determine her next move, two people familiar with the matter told TheWrap. A representative for Unwell, the media company Cooper runs with her husband, Matt Kaplan, confirmed the company ended its relationship with UTA on July 27.

Unwell secured the $500 million pre-money valuation from WTSL, the media, entertainment and sports investment firm led by former Endeavor executive Patrick Whitesell and Jason Lublin. The investment marked the first outside capital Unwell has taken since Cooper and Kaplan launched the company in 2023. The couple retains a majority ownership stake. 

UTA had helped negotiate Cooper’s SiriusXM agreement for “Call Her Daddy” and the wider Unwell network, reported at $125 million in 2024, with Oren Rosenbaum, who heads the agency’s creators division, architecting the deal. A UTA insider told TheWrap that Rosenbaum has built the agency’s most dominant creator roster, including Alix Earle, MrBeast and Mel Robbins. Cooper’s frustration with UTA centers in part on its continued relationships with Earle and Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy, both of whom have publicly feuded with her, according to Variety. UTA had been pressed to part ways with Earle and did not do so, one person familiar with the matter told Variety.

Earle, who joined Unwell in 2023 to host “Hot Mess,” was dropped from the network in 2025 following the falling out. Cooper called out Earle directly on TikTok this year, telling the influencer she was not bound by an NDA and could say what she wanted about her former boss. Earle is set to premiere her own Netflix reality series, “Earle Meets World,” in September, which she has said will address the split. Portnoy, in his memoir “Cancel Me If You Can,” alleged that Cooper and former co-host Sofia Franklyn planned to say they were sexually harassed to exit their original Barstool contract, which Cooper has pushed back on publicly.

A longtime agency executive told TheWrap that CAA has “cemented its role in the last three to five years as the true number one” for talent at Cooper’s stature. CAA has spent recent years building out its own creator practice, including launching a $250 million holding company focused on creators, according to TheWrap.

Expansion Beyond the Podcast

The representation move coincides with Unwell’s push beyond its flagship podcast. The company’s network now includes a dozen shows, among them Madeline Argy’s “Pretty Lonesome,” and has expanded into film and television, live events and a creative agency. Unwell produced the “Hannah Montana: 20th Anniversary Special” for Hulu and Disney+, the docuseries “Call Her Alex,” and the reality series “Love Overboard” on Hulu and “Let’s Marry Harry,” which aired its finale on Netflix last week. The company also has an upcoming adaptation of “Icebreaker” greenlit by Netflix, along with planned adaptations of “Deep End” and “You Deserve to Know.” Cooper is set to make her acting debut as herself in the thriller “Verity” alongside Anne Hathaway and Dakota Johnson.

The agency change follows a turbulent stretch for Unwell. A June Vanity Fair investigation, citing more than 40 sources, alleged a toxic work environment and volatile behavior by Kaplan, following an April Bloomberg report on executive turnover and struggling shows at the company. Cooper addressed the allegations in a Wall Street Journal interview at Cannes Lions in June, saying “I think everyone knows” not to “believe everything that you read on the internet,” and that “being a woman in this industry is extremely difficult because you’re held to a completely different standard.”

Unwell also announced it was shutting down its beverage venture, Unwell Beverage Co., last week. The brand, launched in 2025 with Nestlé, will release additional flavors tied to Halloween before ending production, with retail partner Target selling through remaining supply.

In its August 12 funding announcement, Cooper said Unwell is “scaling on all fronts” and is “poised to accelerate our media platform’s growth through acquisitions and investments.” Whitesell said Cooper, Kaplan and their team have “demonstrated an exceptional ability to anticipate where audiences are headed.”

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