'Empire' Cast: Taraji P. Henson Reveals Who Is The Real Inspiration Behind Cookie Amid Lawsuits [VIDEO]
While Fox’s Empire faces a handful of lawsuits from viewers who say the series stole their real life story, star Taraji P. Henson who plays the infamous Cookie, sets the record straight.
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The beauty graces the September issue of Harper’s Bazaar and said she found the inspiration for her character in her own father.
“He had no buffer. He spoke the truth. It’s heroic because in this society we have been trained to be politically correct. Political correctness is [crap]. If I ask you a question right now, the first thing that comes in your mind is the truth. But we’ve all been trained to breathe, digest the question, and manipulate the answer. Cookie doesn’t do that.”
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She added that she is actually very similar to Cookie in actuality, but wouldn’t dare try and display it too much.
“I have a lot of Cookie tendencies that I cannot act on. You know, I’d go to jail.”
Even before its premiere this past January, Empire has been facing accusations that the story line has been copied from similar shows and lifestyles. Rapper and entertainer 50 Cent was one of the first to call out the show and said that it was eerily close to his hit Starz series Power.
On top of that actress Mo’Nique has set the record straight and said she was actually cast to play Cookie but was blindsided when Henson was signed on to do it in the end.
The show is also looking at lawsuits totaling billions of dollars from people who claim that they were the first to come up with the concept of the show.
Regardless, it’s set to return to Fox on Sept. 23.
Check out one of Cookie’s most infamous scenes below.
