Taraji P Henson By Mert & Marcus for W Magazine August 2015

Mert & Marcus capture Taraji P. Henson, styled by Edward Enninful for the august issue of W Magazine. Lynn Hirschberg interviews Empire’s Cookie Lyon, ‘the outrageous, captivating, and highly theatrical ex-wife of the hip-hop mogel at the center of ‘Empire’, his outrageous, captivating, and highly theatrical dynastic melodrama on Fox, her answer was a flat-out no.

In truth, there is no Empire without Henson. From the first episode, where Cookie emerges from a 17-year prison stint in a three-quarter-length white fur coat over a skintight jaguar-print mini, she is instantly riveting. And that’s before she even opens her mouth. Cookie is the queen of the hilarious put-down: When she tries to get rid of Lucious’s new fiancée, she quips, “If you want Cookie’s nookie, ditch the bitch.” Then there’s the episode in which she beats an artist on their label in a drinking contest, throws her legs in the air in the backseat of an SUV, and seduces her newest love interest with the order “Takethese cookies!

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