Lee Daniels and Taraji P. Henson as Cookie on 'Empire' Gilbert Flores / Getty Images / Chuck Hodes / Fox / Courtesy Everett Collection Lee Daniels is mourning the loss of his sister Lydia ...

A decade after Empire first aired on Fox, Cookie Lyon remains one of television’s most iconic and influential characters. Played with unmatched flair by Taraji P. Henson, Cookie was the ...

Henson‘s Empire character, Loretha “Cookie” Lyon. In an emotional post on Instagram, Daniels shared a photo of them together, as well as words about how he was mourning Lydia’s passing.

“In Empire, the character of Cookie was based partly on her life ... “I would always hold my cast up in front of me when my mother would go to slap me. And one day I held my cast up and ...