Empire screenwriter sued by Sophia Eggleston claiming she is real Cookie Lyon

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Court documents, obtained by Daily Mail Online, reveal Sophia Eggleston is suing screenwriter Rita Grant Miller and Empire's creator Lee Daniels
Eggleston, 53, was jailed for manslaughter for placing a 'hit' on a man
She claims she wrote her life story into a memoir about her 'early drug lifestyle' titled 'The Hidden Hand'
The show debuted last January to rave reviews
Eggleston says, the character Cookie - played by Taraj P. Henson - 'was similar in behavior, style of dress, and background' to her
Miller tells Daily Mail Online that she met with Eggleston twice, but has never even met or worked with Lee Daniels

By Ryan Parry West Coast Correspondent For Dailymail.com

Published: 17:27 EST, 4 August 2015 | Updated: 18:48 EST, 4 August 2015

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A respected screenwriter at the center of a $300 million lawsuit claiming she stole the life-story from a woman convicted of manslaughter and sold it to the makers of hit TV show Empire has slammed the claims as 'ridiculous lies'.

Rita Grant Miller, 69, is named in the federal copyright suit filed by Detroit drug kingpin Sophia Eggleston in which she claims she is the real-life version of 'Empire' diva Cookie Lyon, played by actress Taraji P. Henson on the show.

The suit, filed in US District Court in Michigan, has been served on Miller, the show's co-creators Lee Daniels and Danny Strong and Fox.

In the court documents, obtained by Daily Mail Online, Eggleston, 53, who was jailed for manslaughter for placing a 'hit' on a man, claims she wrote her life story into a memoir about her 'early drug lifestyle' titled 'The Hidden Hand'.

In 2011, she traveled to Los Angeles to meet with screenwriter Miller at her home and claims she gave her a copy of her book.

Doppelganger: Detroit drug kingpin Sophia Eggleston (left) is claiming Empire is her story and she is the real-life version of 'Empire' diva Cookie Lyon, played by actress Taraji P. Henson on the show

In the court documents obtained by Daily Mail Online, Eggleston, 53, who was jailed for manslaughter for placing a 'hit' on a man, claims she wrote her life story into a memoir about her 'early drug lifestyle' titled 'The Hidden Hand'

She says Rita spent a great amount of time taking notes and was to turn the book into a screenplay.

The suit says she got a call from Miller several months later saying she was going to pitch her story to Empire co-creator Daniels at a meeting in New Jersey.

However, months went by and Egglestone didn't understand why her book wasn't a top priority for Miller, and she stopped working with her.

But when the show aired in 2015, Eggleston says, the character Cookie - played by Taraj P. Henson - 'was similar in behavior, style of dress, and background' to her.

The suit says she was 'stunned and dismayed to see the various similarities of events and characters . . . so numerous and specific, especially . . . Cookie Lyon, that independent creation was obviously impossible.'

But in an exclusive interview Miller brands Eggleston's claims as 'complete nonsense' and says the suit is based purely on 'greed'.

'This is a frivolous lawsuit based on ridiculous lies. I'm absolutely shocked, it's astonishing, beyond belief. I only ever met this woman twice and we spoke on the phone a few times. We never once discussed Lee Daniels and never once signed a contract.'

Miller - an established screenwriter with a string of hit movies to her name - says she has never even been to New Jersey, other than to fly out of Newark airport and she has never met Lee Daniels.

'I really admire Lee Daniels' work and I would be happy to say I've met with him, but I've never met the man and he's never met me. I have never met anyone from the show and I've never been to New Jersey except flying once from Newark, the whole thing is complete nonsense,' she said.

Miller says Eggleston did travel to LA for a meeting at her home in 2011 and says they met on a second occasion the following year.

But she insists she only met Eggleston as a favor to a mutual friend called Rick Appling - who she believes is behind the lawsuit

'I was very gracious to her, but only because she was a friend of Rick who I have known for a long time.

Taraji P. Henson plays diva Cookie Lyon on the hit show

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Attitude: Eccleston says In 2011, she traveled to Los Angeles to meet with screenwriter Miller at her home and claims she gave her a copy of her book. Miller says 'I told her the book was fascinating and that if she could raise some money I would write a screenplay, but that's where it ended'

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'At the first meeting she gave me an eight or nine page treatment of her book and a month later she sent me a PDF of her book that was already published a year before.

'I told her the book was fascinating and that if she could raise some money I would write a screenplay, but that's where it ended.

'I was very adamant to Rick and to her that I was writers' guild and would not do any screenplay unless they were signators to the guild, which they were not.'

The lawsuit outlines a 'partial list' comparing Egglestone's book the 'Hidden Hand' and 'Empire', which lawyers claim 'illustrates the folly of maintaining that the two works were independently created'.

It states that, 'Cookie was a drug kingpin that went to jail. So did Plaintiff Eggleston.

'Cookie is released from jail confinement and immediately places a 'hit' on a certain individual. Plaintiff herein was ailed for doing the actual 'hit' on a man.

Lee Daniels has a string of hits to his credit, including The Butler, but Rita Grant Miller says she's never written one of them. She wishes she did

'Cookie is made to have an expensive wardrobe, including wearing mink coats a great deal of the time.

'Cookie has a gay son and Plaintiff has a gay brother.'

It also states that, 'Defendant Miller' admitted in a recent telephone call to the Egglestone that the 'traits idiosyncratic interpersonal relationship between the personalities present… are the same.'

But Miller told Daily Mail Online: 'Come on, there's lots of female gangsters on TV and in books who have similar traits.

'I feel sad in my heart to have done a favor for someone that has back-fired like this.

'It has an impact on my life and could cost me a lot of money to defend, all because I tried to help someone, it's insane.'

Miller said Egglestone last called her a few months ago.

'She was fishing. She said, 'do you know the show Empire, everybody's calling me up about it', I didn't understand what she was talking about as I had not seen it.

'Everyone's telling me it's my life', she kept saying. 'She said she was going to file a lawsuit and she asked if I had her manuscript, but I realized I had shredded it. I had cleaned out my office.

'It was a PDF she had emailed me anyway so what's the big deal.

'Then Rick Appling called me a week later and said he wanted to give me a heads up that she was filing a lawsuit and that she thinks I sold her manuscript for money. I said, 'oh come on Rick don't be silly, don't be ridiculous'.

'I called him a crook and we laughed about it and that was the end of it.'

She added: 'We live in a greedy world, a greedy, greedy world.'

Reps for Fox, Lee Daniels and 'Empire' co-creator and writer Danny Strong, also named in the suit, declined to comment.

Strong has previously said he came up with the idea after hearing a radio story about singer Sean 'P Diddy' Combs and pitched it as a 'hip hop King Lear.'

Eggleston, who provides home care for the elderly, has been jailed twice, arrested for drugs and, according to the FBI, was charged last year with Medicare fraud.