Esther Freud

Esther Freud (born 1963) is a British novelist, known for her autobiographical novel Hideous Kinky (1992). She is the daughter of the painter Lucian Freud.

Esther Freud FRSL
Freud in 2008
Born	1963 (ages 61-62) London, England
Occupation	Novelist
Years active	1984–present
Spouse	David Morrissey ​ ​ (m. 2006; sep. 2020)​
Children	3
Father	Lucian Freud
Family	Freud

Early life and education

Born in London in 1963,^[1] Freud is the daughter of Bernardine Coverley and painter Lucian Freud. She is also a great-granddaughter of Sigmund Freud and niece of Clement Freud.^{[citation needed]}

She travelled extensively with her mother as a child, returning to London at 16 to train as an actress at The Drama Centre.^{[citation needed]}

Career

She has worked in television and theatre as both actress and writer. Her first credited television appearance was as a terrified diner in The Bill in 1984, running frantically out of a Chinese restaurant after it had received a bomb scare. A year later, she appeared as an alien in the Doctor Who serial Attack of the Cybermen.^[2] Her novels include the semi-autobiographical Hideous Kinky, which was adapted into a film starring Kate Winslet.^{[citation needed]}

She is also the author of The Wild, Gaglow, and The Sea House.^[3] She also wrote the foreword for The Summer Book by Tove Jansson.^{[citation needed]}

Freud was named as one of the 20 "Best of Young British Novelists" by Granta magazine in 1993.^[3] Her novels have been translated into 13 languages.^[3] She is also the co-founder (with Kitty Aldridge) of the women's theatre company Norfolk Broads.^{[citation needed]}

In 2009, she donated the short story Rice Cakes and Starbucks to Oxfam's 'Ox-Tales' project, four collections of UK stories written by 38 authors. Her story was published in the 'Water' collection.^[4] As of 2014, Freud taught at the Faber Academy.

Freud was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2019.^[5]

Personal life

Freud has a sister, fashion designer Bella Freud, and a half-brother, Noah Woodman. Her uncle was politician Sir Clement Freud. She has two cousins in the media industry; public relations executive Matthew and broadcaster Emma.^{[citation needed]}

She was married to actor David Morrissey, with whom she has three children. They married in 2006.^[6] They had separated by 2020, when Freud began living with a boyfriend.^[7] Freud maintains^[when?] homes in London and Walberswick near Southwold in Suffolk.^{[citation needed]}

Freud's maternal grandparents were Catholics but her mother was non-observant, while her father's Jewish family were atheists. She identifies as Jewish.^[8][9][10]

Bibliography

Novels

• Hideous Kinky (1992)
• Peerless Flats (1993)
• Gaglow (1997)
• The Wild (2000)
• The Sea House (2003)
• Love Falls (2007)
• Lucky Break (2010)
• Mr Mac and Me (2014)
• I Couldn't Love You More (2021)
• "My Sister and Other Lovers" (2025)

Short fiction

Stories

Title	Year	First published	Reprinted/collected	Notes
Desire	2021	Freud, Esther (27 September 2021). "Desire". The New Yorker. 97 (30): 72–78.

See also

• Freud family