For years, Freida McFadden has been one of the most commercially successful authors in the world and, until now, one of its most elusive.
This week, the writer behind The Housemaid revealed that she is in fact Sara Cohen, a physician who specialises in brain disorders. Cohen has been known to wear a wig during public appearances, partly to maintain her privacy and, as she put it, for a more practical reason: “I have no idea how to style my hair.”
The literary world’s very own Hannah Montana, if you will.
Speaking to USA Today, Cohen explained that the decision to step forward, and stop living a kind of double life, came after years of speculation about her identity. “I’m tired of people debating if I’m a real person or if I’m three men,” she said. “I am a real person and I have a real identity and I don’t have anything to hide.”
Cohen originally adopted a pseudonym when she began publishing in 2013, largely to keep her writing career separate from her work in medicine. Her intention wasn’t to manufacture intrigue, but to protect her professional life, particularly while working in a hospital setting.
While colleagues eventually became aware, she has since scaled back to practising only occasionally, after finding it difficult to balance both careers.
The speculation surrounding her identity, however, points to something more telling. The idea that a prolific, commercially dominant author might be “three men” speaks to a lingering bias within publishing, where scale, speed and success are still instinctively coded as male. In that context, McFadden’s anonymity didn’t just create mystery; it created doubt.
It’s a familiar pattern whereby women who achieve outsized success, particularly in genres historically dominated by men, are often met with a level of scrutiny that extends beyond their work and into their legitimacy. The question is not just how they succeed, but whether they could have done so alone.
Now, with her identity public, Cohen is stepping into a more visible chapter, reclaiming her success and moving closer to the audience that has made her work a phenomenon.
Though she has revealed her name, Cohen is adamant that she remains the same writer her readers know and love. She may have shed a secret she never intended to keep, but she still wants the literary world to know her simply as “Freida.”
“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.”
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