By Our Correspondent
National News – Best-selling thriller author Freida McFadden has revealed her real identity, ending years of speculation about the writer behind one of the most popular psychological thriller series in recent years.
The author, known worldwide for the hit novel The Housemaid, disclosed that her real name is Sara Cohen, a practising doctor based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
Cohen confirmed the revelation during an interview with a US publication, explaining that she decided to speak publicly now because she is stepping back from her medical career and no longer feels the need to keep the secret.
Cohen, who writes under the pen name Freida McFadden, became one of the world’s most successful thriller authors after the release of The Housemaid in 2022.
The novel later inspired a film adaptation released in 2025, starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried, which further boosted her global popularity.
In 2025 alone, the writer sold about 2.6 million books in the United Kingdom and more than six million print copies in the United States.
The author explained that she originally chose to hide her identity when she began publishing in 2013.
At the time, she was working full-time as a resident doctor and did not want her patients or colleagues to associate her medical practice with her writing career.
Her first book, The Devil Wears Scrubs, was a fictionalised story inspired by her experiences as a young doctor.
According to Cohen, the pen name “Freida” was chosen as a humorous reference to a medical database known to doctors as the Fellowship and Residency Electronic Interactive Database.
She continued using the name as her writing career expanded into psychological thrillers.
Despite her success as an author, Cohen said maintaining two identities became increasingly difficult.
She admitted that balancing hospital work with writing novels and public appearances eventually became overwhelming.
The secret also began to unravel earlier this year when a colleague reportedly recognised her from author photographs and shared the discovery at the hospital.
However, Cohen said her colleagues respected her privacy and avoided revealing it publicly.
Now working only occasionally as a doctor, the author says she feels comfortable revealing her identity while continuing to write books under the name Freida McFadden.
