Originally appeared on E! Online<\/a><\/p>\n Freida McFadden<\/strong><\/a> blew her colleagues’ minds after revealing her real identity.<\/span><\/p>\n Though <\/span>The<\/span> Housemaid <\/span>author didn\u2019t publicly <\/span>disclose her true identity<\/span><\/a> as brain disorder doctor Sara Cohen<\/strong> until this week, she said her former medical colleagues learned she was a best-selling author much earlier\u2014and they had quite the reaction to the shocking news.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI didn’t tell anyone at work that I was writing,\u201d the 45-year-old told E! News in an exclusive interview in January. \u201cThey did all find out about it recently, thanks to an Instagram post.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n But even though her coworkers at the hospital were aware of her secret, McFadden\u2014who stopped working in medicine full-time in 2023\u2014stayed firm in her desire to keep the two careers separate.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhen I’m at the hospital,\u201d she explained, \u201cI just want to be a doctor.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n But that\u2019s not to say she isn\u2019t grateful for their support. After all, many of McFadden\u2019s colleagues happened to be fans of her books\u2014and subsequently promised to keep her big secret.<\/span><\/p>\n More from E! Online<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cNow, I guess I don’t mind when people come up to me with books to sign. That’s OK,\u201d the <\/span>Devil Wears Scrubs<\/span> novelist said. \u201cAnd people have been really nice, like some people from the hospital went to see the movie, and they sent me a picture, which is really sweet.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBut in general, I just want to focus on my job when I’m there,\u201d she added, \u201cand when I’m home and being an author, I just want to focus on that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Indeed, McFadden\u2019s desire to keep her careers separate was initially why she chose to use a pseudonym while writing novels. <\/span><\/p>\n As she explained to<\/span> USA Today<\/span><\/a> in an interview on April 8, \u201cMy 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.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Manoli Figetakis\/WireImage<\/p>\n But after stepping away from the medical field, and following years of fan speculation that she was hiding her true identity, McFadden said she was finally ready to reveal who she was.<\/span><\/p>\n “I’m at a point in my career when I’m tired of this being a secret,\u201d the international bestseller\u2014who often wore wigs and glasses to help her lead a double life\u2014told the outlet. \u201cI\u2019m 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.”<\/span><\/p>\n “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 added. “Even though the name will be a surprise, nothing else will. I’ve always been genuine with my readers.”<\/span><\/p>\n With dozens of books under her belt, McFadden is next set to release her novel <\/span>Divorce<\/span> in May. She also has <\/span>a sequel movie to 2025\u2019s big screen adaptation<\/span><\/a> of <\/span>The Housemaid <\/span>starring <\/span>Sydney Sweeney, Amanda Seyfried <\/strong>and<\/span> Kirsten Dunst <\/strong>currently in the works. <\/span><\/p>\n McFadden isn’t the only star who goes by a different name. Keep reading for more celebs and their preferred monikers.<\/p>\n Austin Richard Post<\/p>\n Congratulations to Post Malone<\/strong>, who incorporated his surname into his stage name. However, the rapper does prefer his close friends to call him by his real name.<\/p>\n During the 2024 MTV VMAs, Taylor Swift<\/strong> referred to him as “Austin” when they won the Best Collaboration award for their duet “Fortnight.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Aubrey Frances Anderson-Emmons<\/p>\n Though she portrayed Lilly on Modern Family under the name Aubrey Anderson-Emmons<\/strong>, the actress changed her moniker to Frances Anderson<\/strong> to mark her era as a musician.<\/p>\n \u201cFrances is actually part of my legal name\u2014it\u2019s my middle name, and it\u2019s after my mom\u2019s old family friend,\u201d she explained in a 2025 E! News interview<\/a>. \u201cI thought, one, it was a bit shorter than ‘Aubrey Anderson-Emmons.’ I do have a long, hyphenated last name.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Hannah Fanning & Mary Fanning<\/p>\n The siblings grew up going up by their middle names<\/a>, which they chose to use when they entered Hollywood: Dakota Fanning and Elle Fanning. <\/p>\n As Elle explained, because their mother went by her middle name, it made sense for the sisters to do the same. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was awkward in school when they were calling roll call,\u201d she recalled to Glamour in 2016, \u201cbecause they\u2019d go, \u2018Mary? Mary?\u2019 Kids would be like, \u2018There\u2019s no Mary here.\u2019 I\u2019d awkwardly raise my hand, like, \u2018Uh, it\u2019s me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n William Carl Radke<\/p>\n The Summer House star shocked Bravo fans by revealing his legally given first name isn’t actually Carl<\/a>.<\/p>\n “My I.D. and my passport\u2014my first name is William,” Carl\u2014who has appeared on the reality show for all nine seasons\u2014told PopViewers<\/a> in August 2025. “So, my middle name is Carl, but I’ve always, since day one, been called Carl.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Sterling Kelby Brown<\/p>\n Sterling K. Brown<\/strong> went by his middle name Kelby until he was a teenager.<\/p>\n “My dad’s name is <\/span>Sterling Brown Jr.<\/strong>, my grandfather is <\/span>Sterling Brown Sr.<\/strong>,” he said during an April 2025 appearance on <\/span>The Kelly Clarkson Show<\/span><\/a>. “I wanted my own name and it felt like Sterling was an old man’s name.”<\/span><\/p>\n But years after his dad died from a heart attack, the This Is Us alum decided to revert back to his first name as a way to honor his father.<\/p>\n “Because he passed away when I was 10, by the time I turned 16 and I hadn’t heard his name for five, five-and-a-half years,\u201d he continued. \u201cI was like, \u2018I kinda just want to hear that name again.\u2019 So I asked people to call me Sterling.”<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Nicholas Dylan Efron<\/p>\n The Traitors winner shared on E!’s Hot Goss that his real name is Nicholas Dylan Harrison Efron<\/strong>, but he’s “axed off” his first name and prefers Dylan. As he explained, “That’s my first name and everything gets bumped up,” making Harrison his middle name now.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Andrew Mignogna, Matthew Mignogna & Joey Mignogna<\/p>\n Andrew Lawrence<\/strong>, Matthew Lawrence<\/strong> and Joey Lawrence<\/strong> adopted a new last name in their careers. Joey\u2014whose middle name is Lawrence\u2014was the first to do so after a talent agent criticized the family surname.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Katherine Victoria Litwack<\/p>\n Kat Dennings<\/strong> adopted a stage name at age 9, years before she made her official onstage acting debut on a 2000 episode of Sex and the City.<\/p>\n<\/span><\/div>\n
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