Freida Mcfadden True Identity: The Housemaid author revealed after more than a decade of hiding behind pseudonym

For more than a decade author Freida McFadden has thrilled fans with her psychological thrillers.

The New York Times bestselling author has written 35 books, including the enormously popular one The maid series.

But little was known about her life, apart from a brief biography on her website, which stated that she “lives with her family and cat in a century-old three-story house overlooking the ocean.”

That was until this week’s bombshell that Freida McFadden was a pseudonym to disguise her true identity: the American doctor Sara Cohen, who specializes in the treatment of brain injuries.

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In an interview with USA today Published this week, Cohen profiled himself as the author of Frieda McFadden’s books, which have sold more than 17 million copies and been translated into 45 languages.

“I’m at a point in my career where I’m tired of this being a secret,” Cohen said USA today.

“I’m tired of people debating whether I’m a real person or whether I’m made up of three men.

“I’m a real person and I have a real identity and I have nothing to hide.”

Cohen referred to the rumors that surrounded her for years, but then became more and more intense The maid was made into a film starring Sydney Sweeney.

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And it’s easy to see why. You only have to look at the photo on her official website, which is credited to Mira Whiting Photography, to see that something is up.

It appeared that the author was wearing a rather striking red wig styled into a chunky bob. She also wore black framed glasses and minimal makeup.

It has now been confirmed that Cohen actually wore a wig to help conceal her identity.

She claimed that while she wore a wig, it was only because “I have no idea how to style my hair”.

She also claimed that she does indeed wear glasses, but whether they were hers or a dupe is unknown.

Cohen told USA Today that her real life was “so much more boring than anything that happens in my books.”

So why this facade, and how did she keep it up for so long?

Cohen claimed that she originally came up with the pseudonym because she did not want her writing career to conflict with her job at a hospital.

“My whole goal was to keep it a secret until it was me [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 said.

However, she admitted that her colleagues eventually found out about her double life.

They were, she said, “very nice” and agreed to keep her secret.

Many were fans of her books and had no idea they were working with such a prolific author.

She said she finally quit her full-time job in 2023.

“I have distanced myself from my job. I just work [as a doctor] once or twice a month,” she says.

“I just realized that I was completely overwhelmed trying to do both.”

Now that she had been “exposed”, she said she was happy to finally be free of her secret.

And perhaps expecting a response from fans, she promised her readers that she was the same writer they had come to know and love.

“Even though I haven’t told them my real name until now, I feel like I’ve been sharing the real me all along and everything I’ve told them is the truth,” she said.

“Even though the name will be a surprise, nothing else will be. I have always been sincere with my readers.”

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According to the Daily Mail, the real Cohen grew up in Manhattan and was the daughter of a psychiatrist father and a podiatrist mother.

She attended Harvard, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree before studying medicine and graduating in 2005.

She completed her internship in California before becoming a resident at Stanford University, where she specialized in physical medicine and rehabilitation, before moving to a specialized veterans hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, in 2010.

Now 45, she is reportedly married to engineer Ian Weiner, with whom she shares two children, Miles, 19, and Libby, 12.

They reportedly live in a sprawling AU$2.2 million, five-bedroom home that she bought in Arlington, Massachusetts, with proceeds from her book and film adaptation deals.

Authors who hid their identities

Cohen is not the first author to hide his identity.

Among them was JK Rowling, the author of the hugely successful book Harry Potter series.

When her first book came out in 1997, her publishers reportedly encouraged her to use the initials “JK” instead of her first name “Joanne” to appeal to the young men who usually read fantasy novels.

She subsequently adopted yet another pseudonym, Robert Galbraith, for her series of Cormoran Strike novels, including The cuckoo calls, The silkworm And Distressed blood.

She chose to write under a pseudonym so that the books would be judged on merit.

Her secret was revealed in 2013 by The Sunday times following an investigation. The outing caused sales of the series to skyrocket.

Then there is the case of Italian author Elena Ferrante, who published their first book in 1992, but chose to keep their identity secret from the start.

This led to continued speculation and theories about the author’s identity.

Then in 2016, Italian investigative journalist Claudio Gatti revealed that the author was actually Anita Raja, wife of author Domenico Starnone.

Gatti was promptly criticized for the invasion of privacy.

The claims have never been denied or substantiated, and ‘Elena Ferrante’ has continued to publish works, some of which have been adapted into films.

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