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 ...

Lydia Ruth Daniels-Rooks, the inspiration behind Cookie Lyon, the character from the hit Fox series Empire, died Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2025. She was 64. Her passing was revealed in a heartfelt ...

10 post that Lydia was the one who inspired his writing of Taraji P. Henson‘s Empire character, Loretha “Cookie” Lyon. In an emotional post on Instagram, Daniels shared a photo of them ...

Henson played on Daniels’ 2015–2020 Fox series Empire. “In Empire, the character of Cookie was based partly on her life. She’s left four beautiful children and five grandchildren behind.