{"id":573796,"date":"2026-04-09T11:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T11:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/573796\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T11:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T11:54:08","slug":"the-housemaid-author-frieda-mcfadden-reveals-true-identity-after-living-double-life-for-23-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/573796\/","title":{"rendered":"‘The Housemaid’ author Frieda McFadden reveals true identity after living double life for 23 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe Housemaid\u201d<\/a> author Freida McFadden is finally dropping the disguise \u2014 and the double life.<\/p>\n

McFadden revealed Wednesday that her real name is Sara Cohen and that she is a New York-born doctor who treated brain disorders as she has built a publishing empire over the last 23 years. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m at a point in my career when I\u2019m tired of this being a secret. I\u2019m tired of people debating if I\u2019m a real person or if I\u2019m three men,\u201d McFadden told USA Today<\/a>. \u201cI am a real person and I have a real identity and I don\u2019t have anything to hide.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Housemaid\u201d author Freida McFadden revealed that her real name is Sara Cohen, a New York-born doctor. Open Book with Jenna Bush Hager<\/p>\n

As she concealed her true identity and maintained her privacy, McFadden appeared publicly in a wig and glasses. She clarified that the glasses are her own, while the hair was a wig.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no idea how to style my hair,\u201d she told the outlet, adding, \u201cIt\u2019s so much more boring than anything that happens in my books.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cohen, 45, grew up in Manhattan and first published \u201cThe Devil Wears Scrubs\u201d in 2013, but it wasn\u2019t until the release of \u201cThe Housemaid\u201d in 2022 that she became a household name.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Housemaid\u201d 2025 film adaptation starred Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried.<\/p>\n

Her success has jumped to Hollywood, with last year\u2019s film adaptation of \u201cThe Housemaid\u201d starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried<\/a>, and sequel \u201cThe Housemaid\u2019s Secret\u201d already in the works \u2014 making it harder than ever to stay anonymous.<\/p>\n

Cohen wanted to keep her author work separate from her hospital job.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy whole goal was to keep it a secret until I was [ready to] step back from my doctor job, so it wouldn\u2019t be like everyone I work with suddenly knew and it compromised my ability to do my job,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Cohen, wearing a wig, said she is \u201cat a point in my career when I\u2019m tired of this being a secret.\u201d Open Book with Jenna Bush Hager<\/p>\n

She scaled back her medical work in late 2023 and now works just once or twice a month.<\/p>\n

But even before going public, her colleagues had already figured her identity out \u2014 and kept quiet.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were really nice about it,\u201d she said, noting many coworkers were already fans of her books without realizing they were working alongside the author. She\u2019s since started bringing copies into the hospital.<\/p>\n

Sweeney in a scene from \u201cThe Housemaid.\u201d AP<\/p>\n

Still, juggling both worlds took a toll.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just realized I was completely overwhelmed from trying to do both,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The mystery surrounding Cohen\u2019s identity fueled wild online speculation. Speaking on \u201cOpen Book with Jenna Bush Hager,\u201d<\/a> she addressed the rumors head-on.<\/p>\n

Cohen told Jenna Bush Hager she missed out on huge book tours to keep her true identity a secret. Open Book with Jenna Bush Hager<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of them are just so out there. Some of it is great. I think every author gets \u2018AI is writing her books,\u2019 even though most of them were written before AI,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne that\u2019s very funny is people saying that I\u2019m three men, and I think that\u2019s hilarious.\u201d<\/p>\n

But keeping her identity secret also meant missing out on the spotlight.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very hard,\u201d she admitted. \u201cI see all these authors doing these huge book tours, which I never do, and I feel so bad that I never do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Writing, she insists, was never supposed to replace her career in medicine.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people go into writing hoping to quit their day job, but I didn\u2019t do it [for that reason]. I was just having fun,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI kept clinging to being a doctor because, first, I worked very hard to get there and I find it really rewarding. I love seeing patients and helping people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe Housemaid\u201d author Freida McFadden is finally dropping the disguise \u2014 and the double life. McFadden revealed Wednesday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":573797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[79982,16692,223,236,88,206,7105,29925],"class_list":{"0":"post-573796","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-amanda-seyfried","9":"tag-authors","10":"tag-books","11":"tag-celebrities","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-movies","14":"tag-sydney-sweeney","15":"tag-thrillers"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/573797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}