The literary world's veil of secrecy has been lifted as Freida McFadden, the bestselling author behind psychological thrillers like The Housemaid, has revealed her true identity to be Sara Cohen, a practicing physician specializing in brain disorders.
"I'm at a point in my career when I'm tired of this being a secret," Cohen explained to USA Today. "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."
For over a decade, Cohen successfully maintained a dual life. By day, she worked as a doctor in Boston, Massachusetts. By night, under the pseudonym Freida McFadden—a name playfully chosen from a medical training database—she authored 29 novels, becoming a publishing phenomenon. In 2025 alone, she sold 2.6 million books in the UK, making her the second-highest-selling author, trailing only Julia Donaldson.
The separation was intentional. Cohen initially adopted the pen name when self-publishing her debut, The Devil Wears Scrubs, a fictionalized account of her residency. She later expressed concern that her patients might feel uneasy being treated by a bestselling thriller writer.
"At work, I want to be a doctor," she told the New York Times in 2024. "A lot of my books have medical stuff in them, and I don't want people saying, 'Is this based on me?' It feels unprofessional."
Her stratospheric success, fueled by hits like The Housemaid—which was adapted into a film starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried—eventually allowed her to scale back her medical practice. This shift made maintaining the secret less critical and more challenging.
"One of my colleagues at the hospital recently recognised me in a Freida photo, and told everyone, so the cat is out of the bag," Cohen revealed in a January interview.
Despite the revelation, Cohen intends for her readers—affectionately known as McFans and Freida Readahs—to continue knowing her by her pen name.
"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," she said. "Even though the name will be a surprise, nothing else will. I've always been genuine with my readers."
The author, who cites social anxiety as a reason for her initial privacy, now steps into the spotlight as her authentic self, closing the chapter on one of publishing's most intriguing mysteries.