Oct. 27--If you see "Empire" star Taraji P. Henson filming on the streets of Chicago, remember to stay on the sidewalk.
Henson, who plays matriarch Cookie Lyon, recalled a time she was mobbed by fans during a Chicago shoot of the Fox hip-hop drama.
"One day we were filming somewhere in Chicago ... We were in the van and the fans -- I saw the fans. The crowd kept growing and growing and growing until it got out of control," Henson said Saturday at Entertainment Weekly's EW Fest. "And the police, they couldn't control it. They had to move me separately. Like, they had to send a decoy van."
Henson said fans jumped over barricades, found her in the van and banged on the door while yelling for Cookie. She said she was concerned about their safety.
"I'm a mother. I'm like, 'Baby, get, get out.' I'm banging on the window like, 'Stay on the sidewalk. You see this street? Don't you get hit,'" said Henson, who appeared at EW Fest with Jussie Smollett, who plays her son, Jamal Lyon, on the show. "It was crazy. I felt like Michael Jackson."
Filming for Season 2 of "Empire," which is set in New York, began in June in Chicago and is expected to continue into the spring. The show airs 8 p.m. Wednesdays.
