The Housemaid author Freida McFadden reveals her real identity

More than a decade after her debut novel The Devil Wears Scrubs was published, US best-selling author Freida McFadden finally revealed that she had been using a pen name for her books.

The writer of the award-winning 2022 novel The Housemaid said her real name is Sara Cohen and that she is a doctor who treats brain disorders, in an interview with American media outlet USA Today on April 8.

The 45-year-old, who has appeared in dirty-blonde wigs at all public appearances as Freida McFadden, also revealed a head full of dark curls in a photo published by USA Today. She is wearing a lab coat in the photo.

While her glasses are not part of the disguise, Cohen told the media outlet that she initially wore a wig because she had no idea how to style her hair.

“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,” said Cohen, who is known for her psychological thrillers.

“I am a real person and I have a real identity and I don’t have anything to hide,” she told USA Today.

When she started writing in 2013, she created a pseudonym because she did not want her writing career to conflict with her hospital job, she said.

“My whole goal was to keep it a secret until I was (ready to) step back from my doctor job, so it wouldn’t be like everyone I work with suddenly knew and it compromised my ability to do my job,” she added.

Cohen quit her full-time job in 2023 and now works as a doctor once or twice a month.

Although some of her co-workers found out about her secret, they had also kept her identity under wraps, she said.

She has 29 novels under her belt.

The Housemaid, which won the 2023 International Thriller Writers Award for best paperback original novel, was adapted for the big screen in 2025 with actresses Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried in the lead roles. It is a psychological thriller about the titular help who works for a family with dark secrets.

While Cohen said she is glad to have shed the secret she never meant to keep, she wants the book world to continue to know her as Freida and assured fans that she will continue writing under her pen name.

“Given that so many authors publish under pen names, I’m astonished by the response to my real name. I’m a very private person and will stay that way, but I have been so honoured by the outpouring of love and support,” she said.

“It has always been my intention to entertain people and that is what I will continue doing as long as you keep reading.

“For now, I will go back to making myself scarce and writing more plot twists – the fictional kind,” she said.