Speaker
Alex Cooper
Appearances over time
4 episodes
Episodes
4
Podcasts
Quotes & moments
Riley Keough's baby photo sold for $300,000 on the cover of People magazine, illustrating the extraordinary public fascination with the Presley family.
Alex deleted TikTok from her phone for nearly a month and noticed a significant improvement in her mood and mental health.
Alex says that within 30 minutes of returning to TikTok after her break, her dopamine levels dropped and she was immediately in a worse mood.
Alex claims that spending time reading books improves her mental health five times more than scrolling social media.
Alex's mother Lori Cooper advised that issues in a relationship only get ten times worse after marriage unless actively addressed.
Alex argues that repeatedly failing — rewriting your resume five times, burning dinner — is what actually builds character, not effortless success.
Riley lost both her brother Benjamin and her mother Lisa Marie Presley within a span of roughly two years, a compounded grief experience she describes as deeply isolating.
Alex advises chronically single friends to schedule dedicated 'single nights' with other single women, treating their time as equally valuable as coupled friends' date nights.
Alex advises a woman whose fiancé avoids all financial conversations to literally place her ring on the table and issue an ultimatum: no marriage without an honest money talk.
Alex points out that alcohol addiction is socially harder to identify and name than drug addiction because drinking is culturally normalized.
Alex argues that the 'cool girl who doesn't try' archetype is actually a defense mechanism to avoid the humiliation of rejection.
Alex Cooper described an article arguing that a single person is one step from a healthy relationship, while someone in a miserable relationship is three steps away.
Alex tells a 26-year-old listener that moving back in with family to save money for studying abroad in London is a purposeful sacrifice, not an embarrassment.
Alex advises a woman in her 30s newly open to dating a man with kids to be honest from the very start about her uncertainty rather than hiding her hesitation.
Alex suggests that a group of friends trying to help a friend with alcoholism consider writing a heartfelt letter instead of another face-to-face intervention to avoid the 'ganging up' dynamic.
The coolest thing on the internet right now is pretending you didn't try. From cooking videos with pristine kitchens to fitness reels with no sweat, we've built a culture that glamorizes the effortless outcome while hiding every ugly step that produced it. This isn't just annoying — it's psychologically toxic, and it's time to call it out.
Acting like you don't care in dating is not actually cool — it's armor. If you never seem to try, you never have to face the humiliation of being rejected. But you also never get to be known, and eventually you have to maintain a facade that's exhausting and completely hollow.
If you're in college and you want to get into a frat party, yes, absolutely leave him on read. The 'act like you don't care' move works — but only as a short-term tactic for short-term goals. The problem is when it becomes your entire personality in your 30s and you're still performing indifference for someone you actually want to marry.
The person who wins every game without trying has fun, sure. But what resilience did they build? The person who fails, rewrites the resume five times, gets their heart broken, and burns the dinner — that person is building something real. Character comes from the struggle, not the shortcut.
Being the only single person in your friend group does not make your time less valuable or your schedule more flexible. Your friends have date nights — you need single nights. Find your single friends, build your own parallel social life, and you'll find those couples-heavy evenings suddenly feel like a peaceful night off rather than a reminder of what you're missing.
Moving back in with your grandma at 26 to save money for studying in London is not embarrassing — it's disciplined. Sacrifice is only shameful when it's purposeless. When it feeds a goal you've set for yourself, it's a story you'll be proud to tell on a date in London. First grandma's house, then the world.
If your fiancé won't sit down and talk about money, stop asking nicely. Take the ring off your finger, place it on the table, and say clearly: I cannot marry someone who won't have this one adult conversation with me. Avoiding finances now means avoiding every hard conversation forever. That is not a foundation.
If every group intervention with an alcoholic friend has turned into a fight, try a letter instead. A group confrontation can feel like an ambush even when you're coming from love. A heartfelt written letter — from one of you or all of you — removes the 'ganging up' dynamic and gives your friend space to actually hear the message. Then set a clear boundary around alcohol-free hangouts.
There comes a point where being a good friend to someone with addiction means stepping back — not abandoning them, but being supportive from a distance while also protecting your own mental health. You can't want their recovery more than they do. You can bring the horse to water, but you can't make it drink.
Lying in bed at 11pm watching someone meal prep flawlessly and hit a 5am workout without a drop of sweat doesn't just make you feel lazy — it makes your real, hard, messy day feel like evidence that you're broken. That's not inspiration. That's your self-esteem being used as a punching bag.
Alex deleted TikTok for nearly a month and felt genuinely happier. Then she re-downloaded it to post two videos and within 30 minutes was in a worse mood, triggered, and annoyed. She deleted it again immediately. The experiment was that obvious — and she says if you know an app makes you feel like garbage, choosing it anyway makes you the problem.
In your 30s, the dating pool shifts. Divorced men, men with kids — this is just reality. If you're open to exploring it, that's great. But the non-negotiable is honesty from the jump: tell him you've never dated someone with kids, that you need to see how it develops, and that you're being upfront rather than hiding your uncertainty. Transparency earns respect.
Remember the kid who aced the exam and bragged he never studied while you were up till 2am with flashcards? We validated that behavior in school, and we've carried it straight into adult life. The person who tries, sweats, and maybe only gets a B should never have been the embarrassing one.
Before the 2016 Rio Olympics, Aly Raisman's body fat was measured at 5% — lower than some NFL players — and the medical professional conducting the test refused to reassure her. She was already dealing with a sore Achilles, extreme nausea, and muscle cramps. Her body was failing her even as she went on to compete at the highest level.
You're not wearing the cute matching workout set — you're in an old ripped college shirt with shorts that have holes in them, and you made it to the gym anyway. That is the win. Some days the real achievement is just feeding yourself and surviving. That is closer to actual life than anything on your For You page.
Analysis
What they talk about
- Society & Culture 66%
- Health & Fitness 20%
- Business 7%
- Education 7%
Connections
Shows they appear on and people they share episodes with. Drag to explore.
