Mo’Nique said she was supposed to play Cookie on ‘Empire’ but execs said this about her

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Mo’Nique intimated to an entertainment television show that she was offered the super glam role of Cookie in the blockbuster drama series “Empire” opposite Terrence Howard, but there is a reason why Lee Daniels’ offer was nixed by Fox executives.
Mo’Nique told “Inside Edition” the role instead went to Taraji P. Henson, who has become Empire’s breakout star because, according to Daniels, Fox execs told him Mo’Nique was difficult to work with.

“When he called me up, he offered me the role in Empire as Cookie,” she said.
Daniels felt that Mo’Nique was so right for the role that he even sent her a script to read over.
But that’s as far as that went, Mo’Nique said.
“Maybe four days had gone by, and I hadn’t heard anything. So I’m trying to reach out to him to say, what time do I need to be in? Where do I need to be? When he finally returned the call, he says listen, the executives at Fox said that you’re difficult.”
Trent asked, “Mo’Nique are you difficult to work with? This is Lee Daniels, your friend, saying these things.”
“When I hear Mr. Daniels making those comments, he and I know that that’s not true,” she said.
Mo’Nique said her reputation was sealed when she demanded compensation for promoting Precious at the Cannes Film Festival in 2009. When she wasn’t offered money, she refused to comply with studio wishes.
Lee Daniels told CNN, “There were demands that were made from her, on the Precious campaign that everyone knows about that hurt her.”
Mo’Nique said, “If you work a job Monday through Friday and you work 40 hours and then your boss says, ‘well I need you to come in on Saturday,’ do you do that for free, or is that considered overtime?”
See what else Mo’Nique had to say on the matter after flipping the e-page:

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