The Housemaid Author Freida McFadden’s True Identity Has Been Revealed: Here’s What We Know

Four years after Freida McFadden’s popular thriller series debuted in April 2022, The Housemaid author has revealed the true identity behind her pseudonym. On April 9, USA Today published an interview with the mysterious author, whose real name is Dr. Sara Cohen. Yes, doctor.

“I’m at a point in my career when I’m tired of this being a secret,” Cohen told the publication. “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.”

Here’s everything we know about the author behind the best-selling Housemaid series, and what the revelation means for the future of the books, which recently found an even wider audience thanks to the film adaptation starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried.

Who is The Housemaid author Frieda McFadden?

Frieda McFadden is the pseudonym Cohen has been writing under for the past 23 years. Her first psychological thriller was the 2014 best-seller Dead Med, which follows a med student unpacking the tragic and mysterious deaths of her classmates.

According to her website, Frieda is a physician (true) who “​lives with her family and cat in a centuries-old three-story home overlooking the ocean, with staircases that creak and moan with each step, and nobody could hear you if you scream. Unless you scream really loudly, maybe.”

It’s unclear how accurate that last part is, but we do know she’s wearing a wig in her author photo. “I have no idea how to style my hair,” she told USA TODAY.

Who is Dr. Sara Cohen?

Dr. Cohen is a brain disorder specialist working in Boston, Massachussettes. “It’s so much more boring than anything that happens in my books,” Cohen says of her career.

In the new interview, Cohen said she initially wrote under a pseudonym so that her books wouldn’t interfere with her medical career. As she put it, “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.”

Why reveal her identity now?

Well, Cohen says her colleagues found out anyway but were “really nice about it” and kept her secret. She “stepped away” from her medical career in 2023, adding “I’m only working like once or twice a month.”

But that was still three years ago, and Cohen seemed content to let people speculate about her identity as recently as December 2025. “Some of [the theories] are just so out there,” she said on Jenna Bush Hager’s Open Book podcast at the time. “Some of it is great. I think every author gets ‘AI is writing her books,’ even though most of them were written before AI,” she said. “One that’s very funny is people saying that I’m three men, and I think that’s hilarious.”

However, she admitted the ruse made it difficult to connect with her readers, saying, “I see all these authors doing these huge book tours, which I never do, and I feel so bad that I never do it.”

How will it effect her books—or even the Housemaid movies?

It shouldn’t effect them at all, as Cohen plans to continue to use her pen name. And her fans should still call her “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,” Cohen said. “Even though the name will be a surprise, nothing else will. I’ve always been genuine with my readers.”