'Cookie Is Me': Farmington Hills Woman Sues 'Empire' Over Copyright Infringement

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A Farmington Hills woman is claiming the creators of the Fox TV show Empire are using her life experiences to fuel their melodramatic storylines surrounding the character Loretha “Cookie” Lyon and her family that runs a hip-hop record label.

That’s why Sophia Eggleston is suing Fox and the creators for $300 million for copyright infringement, according to a Chicago Tribune report.

»Via the Chicago Tribune

Eggleston, 53, told the Tribune she gave her memoir, The Hidden Hand, to writer RIta Grant Miller in 2011. Miller told Eggleston she would share the memoir with filmmaker and Empire co-creator Les Daniels, the Tribune report stated.

The similarities between Eggleston and her fictional counterpart, who is played by Taraji P. Henson, include:

• both sold drugs
• both served prison time
• both wear expensive mink coats
• both arranged a hit after being released from prison
• both had troubled relationships with their children’s fathers
• both have gay relatives

Eggleston was convicted of second-degree murder in 1992 and was incarcerated for four years, the report stated. She served another three years for a probation violation and was charged with Medicare fraud in September, the report added.

Fox, Daniels and co-creator Danny Strong are named in the suit, which was filed in May in U.S. District Court in Detroit. And Eggleston told the Detroit Free Press that she’s confident that 12 of her peers will find her claims have merit:

“I know a jury is going to rule in my favor. I have no question, and that’s because it’s the truth. The whole city was calling me. The whole city knows. They said, ‘That [expletive] stole your life.’ But you know what, I’m not angry at Cookie. Cookie got paid to do a job. I just want to right a wrong. … Cookie Lyon is me.”

»Via the Detroit Free Press

The network and the creators of the show, which is set and films in Chicago, have not commented on the suit.

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PHOTO: Taraji P. Henson as Loretha “Cookie” Lyon in Empire. | CREDIT: Fox