Frieda McFadden, author of The Housemaid, finally drops her disguise and begins a double life.
McFadden revealed Wednesday that her real name is Sarah Cohen, a New York-born doctor who has spent the past 23 years treating brain diseases while building a publishing empire.
“I’m at a point in my career where I’m tired of this being a secret. I’m tired of people arguing about whether I’m a real person or three guys,” McFadden told USA Today. “I’m a real person, I have a real identity, and I have nothing to hide.”
McFadden appeared in public wearing a wig and glasses to protect her privacy and hide her real identity. He revealed that the glasses were his own and that his hair was a wig.
“I have no idea how to style hair,” she told the magazine, adding, “It’s much more boring than what happens in my book.”
Cohen, 45, grew up in Manhattan and first published The Devil Wears Scrubs in 2013, but it wasn’t until the release of The Housemaid in 2022 that she became a household name.
Her success has spread to Hollywood, where last year’s The Housemaid was made into a movie starring Sidney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried, and with a sequel, The Housemaid’s Secret, already in the works, staying anonymous is becoming more difficult than ever.
Cohen wanted to separate his work as a writer from his work at the hospital.
“My biggest goal was to keep it a secret until I was (ready) to step down from my medical career, so everyone I work with wouldn’t suddenly find out and my ability to do my job would be compromised,” she said.
She scaled back her medical practice at the end of 2023 and now only works once or twice a month.
However, even before she went public, her colleagues already knew her identity and remained silent.
“They were very accommodating,” she said, noting that many of her colleagues were already fans of her books without knowing they were working with the author. Since then, she has started bringing copies to the hospital.
Still, it took a lot of effort to juggle both worlds.
“I just realized that if I tried to do both, I would be completely overwhelmed,” she said.
The mystery surrounding Cohen’s identity has sparked intense speculation online. On “Open Book with Jenna Bush Hager,” she addressed the rumors head-on.
“Some of it is very out there, some of it is amazing, and I think any author would feel like “AI is writing the book,” even though most of the work was written before AI,” she said.
“What’s really funny is people say I’m three guys, and I think that’s funny.”
But keeping her identity secret also meant missing out on the spotlight.
“It’s very difficult,” she admitted. “You see authors doing big book tours, and I never do those. It’s such a shame, so I never do them.”
Writing, she insists, was never meant to replace a career in medicine.
“Some people start writing because they want to quit their day job, but I didn’t quit (for that reason). I just enjoyed it,” she said.
“I stuck with the profession first because I worked hard to become a doctor and I find it really rewarding. I love seeing patients and helping people.”
