We Finally Have a Real-Life Hannah Montana

While it’s not uncommon for authors to publish their novels under a different name, there’s always an added thrill if they wear a disguise to mask their true identity…It’s drama! It’s intrigue! It’s the Hannah Montana ripping off her wig on the Tonight Show starring Jay Leno moment the literary world has long been waiting for…

On Wednesday, best-selling author of The Housemaid, Freida McFadden, revealed that her real identity is Sara Cohen, a Boston-based doctor who specializes in treating brain disorders. McFadden disguised her identity using the pen name, glasses, and a wig—a wig she must now shed in order to live her truth.

“I’m at a point in my career when I’m tired of this being a secret. I’m tired of people debating if I’m a real person or if I’m three men,” McFadden told USA Today. “I am a real person, and I have a real identity, and I don’t have anything to hide.”

She began the double life in 2013 after self-publishing The Devil Wears Scrubs, a semi-autobiographical novel about an overworked medical resident. While she’s always been open about her career as a physician, now, as she attends red carpet premieres of her best-selling novels like The Housemaid—which grossed $400 million worldwide and earned itself a sequel—it’s time for the double life to end. What started as a pen name to protect her medical career no longer made sense.

“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,” McFadden said, adding that she has mostly stepped back from medical duties as her literary and film career has skyrocketed.

“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. (Which is, like, so Miley of her) “Even though the name will be a surprise, nothing else will. I’ve always been genuine with my readers.”

And about her disguise—the glasses are real, and she only wears a wig because she says she has “no idea how to style my hair.” So, she might not be Hannah Montana, but she’s definitely just an ordinary girl.

The only question remaining: who is going to adapt this rock-and-roll, double-life, dream-come-true into the next best-selling thriller?