A Detroit woman is suing Fox and Lee Daniels over copyright infringement saying she was the basis for Cookie on 'Empire.'
A Detroit woman is claiming to be the real-life version of Cookie Lyon from Fox's hit Empire, according to reports.
Sophia Eggleston, 53, has filed a $300 million lawsuit against co-creator Lee Daniels and Fox, accusing them of stealing her life story for Cookie's character, Page Six reported.
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In the suit, Eggleston says she was a “drug kingpin” that did jail time for manslaughter for placing a “hit” on a man. She claims she wrote about her life story in a memoir titled, The Hidden Hand.
In 2011, she says she traveled to Los Angeles to meet with a screenwriter named Rita Miller and gave her a copy of the book.
In Eggleston’s copyright lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Michigan, she claims she got a call from Miller several months later who said she was going to pitch her story to Lee Daniels.
Empire debuted earlier this year on the network and in the suit, Eggleston says the Cookie character, played by Taraji P. Henson, “was similar in behavior, style of dress, and background.”
The suit also says that Eggleston was “dismayed" to see the similarities between her life and the character's.
"Independent creation was obviously impossible," it says.
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Eggleston told Page Six: “The whole city’s been telling me Cookie is basically me. Any jury would rule for me — $300 million is a very small price for taking my whole life and stealing it.”
Representatives for Fox, Daniels and co-creator and writer Daniel Strong have not commented on the matter.
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