It looks like the smash-hit TV show Empire is looking at some possible legal trouble.
A Detroit native named Sophia Eggleston is claiming that she is the real-life version of Cookie Lyon, the diva on Empire played by Taraji P. Henson. Eggleston is so convinced that the producers stole her life that she has filed a $300 million lawsuit against co-creator Lee Daniels and the Fox network.
Eggleston allegedly was a huge “drug kingpin” back in the day and got sent away to prison for placing a hit on a man, along with a long list of other street-related activities. She also says she wrote all of her past illicit activities into a memoir entitled The Hidden Hand and went to Los Angeles back in 2011 to meet with screenwriter Rita Miller. Her copyright suit filed in US District Court in Michigan says she got a call from Miller months later saying she was going to pitch her story to Daniels about either a possible TV series or movie.
When the 53-year-old watched Empire, she was in shock at the similarities she noticed between Cookie’s life and her own. Her suit says Cookie’s story was “was similar in behavior, style of dress, and background” to her and that she was “dismayed to see the various similarities of events and characters . . . so numerous and specific, especially . . . Cookie Lyon, that independent creation was obviously impossible.”
Do you think this woman has a legit case on her hands?
Source: PageSix
