The woman who wrote the best-selling thriller The Housemaid has been keeping a big secret for over twenty years. Freida McFadden is not a real person. That name is a pen name. The real author is Sara Cohen, a brain doctor from New York who worked in a hospital while writing books that sold millions of copies around the world. She told USA Today on April 8, 2026, that she is done hiding.
“I’m at a point in my career when I’m tired of this being a secret. I’m tired of people debating if I’m a real person or if I’m three men. I am a real person and I have a real identity and I don’t have anything to hide.”
Why Sara Cohen Used a Fake Name for 23 Years
Sara Cohen grew up in Manhattan. Her father was a psychiatrist and her mother was a podiatrist. She always loved reading and writing. But she also worked very hard to become a doctor who treats brain disorders. When she started publishing books in 2013 with a novel called The Devil Wears Scrubs, she did not want her writing to mix with her hospital job.
Her main goal was to keep her two lives separate. She worried that if her patients or coworkers knew she was a famous writer, it would make her job as a doctor harder. She wanted people to see her only as their doctor when she was at work.
Cohen tried very hard to stay hidden. On the rare times she did public appearances, she wore a wig and glasses. The glasses are real because she needs them to see. But the wig was just a disguise. She joked that she wears it because she has “no idea how to style” her own hair.
Her Coworkers Found Out First and Kept Quiet
Cohen planned to keep her secret until she was ready to stop working as a doctor full time. But her coworkers found out about her books before she was ready to tell them. Luckily for her, they were very nice about the whole situation. They agreed to keep her identity a secret and did not tell anyone.
Many of her patients were also fans of Freida McFadden books. They had no idea that the doctor treating them was the same person who wrote the thrillers they read at home. Some of her coworkers were fans too. After they found out the truth, Cohen started bringing copies of her books to the hospital for them.
The Pressure of Living a Double Life
Keeping two careers going was not easy. Cohen said she felt completely overwhelmed trying to do both jobs at the same time. Writing books takes a lot of hours. Being a brain doctor also takes a lot of hours and focus. She had to choose.
At the end of 2023, Cohen made a big decision. She stopped working as a full time doctor. Now she only works once or twice a month at the hospital. This change gave her the freedom to finally tell the world who she really is.
Even though she has stepped back from medicine, she still loves helping patients. She said she finds the work very rewarding. She did not start writing because she wanted to quit her day job. She was just having fun with her stories at first.
The Housemaid Movie Made Hiding Harder
The Housemaid came out in 2022. The book became a huge hit. People on social media would not stop talking about it. The story is about a woman with a dark past who starts working for a rich family. Nothing is what it seems.
The book sold so well that Hollywood came calling. Director Paul Feig made a movie version for Lionsgate. The film starred Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried. It cost $35 million to make. But the movie earned almost $400 million around the world.
With that kind of success, staying anonymous became very hard. A second movie based on the next book The Housemaid’s Secret is already being made. Sydney Sweeney will return for that one too.
Internet Rumors Said She Was Three Men or AI
Because Cohen never showed her real face, people on the internet started making up crazy stories about her. Some people said Freida McFadden was not a real person at all. Others said the books were written by three different men working together. More recently, some people claimed that artificial intelligence wrote her books.
Cohen talked about these rumors on the podcast Open Book with Jenna Bush Hager. She said some of the theories are very funny to her. The idea that she is three men makes her laugh. She also pointed out that most of her books were written before AI tools became popular.
She admitted that staying hidden has been hard. She sees other authors going on big book tours and meeting their fans in person. She never got to do that. She feels bad that she missed out on those experiences.
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What Sara Cohen Wants Fans to Call Her
Now that the secret is out, Sara Cohen says she will still use the name Freida McFadden for her future books. The pen name is here to stay. She wants the book world and her readers to keep calling her by that name.
She also wants her fans to know that nothing else about her has changed. The name is the only new thing.
“Even though I haven’t told my real name until now, I feel like I have shared the real me all along and everything I’ve told them has been the truth. Even though the name will be a surprise, nothing else will. I’ve always been genuine with my readers.”
A New Book Is Coming Soon
Sara Cohen is not slowing down with her writing. Her next book is called Dear Debbie. It will be released soon. The story follows a woman who loses her job and decides to get revenge on the people she thinks hurt her.
Fans of The Housemaid can expect the same kind of twist filled storytelling. Cohen knows how to keep readers guessing until the last page. That is why her books have sold so many copies around the world.
She lives near Boston with her husband and two children. She says her real life is very boring compared to the stories she writes. There are no murders or big secrets in her house anymore. Now that she has told the world who she is, the only secrets left are the ones in her books.
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