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Anika Calhoun
Anika Calhoun (Grace Byers) - Empire Season 3 Official Cast Photo
General Information
Gender: Female
Resides in: New Orleans, Louisiana (hometown)
New York City, New York
Hair Color: Black
Occupation(s): Head of A&R at Empire (formerly)
Aliases: Fake Ass Lena Horne, Fake Ass Halle Berry & Boo-Boo Kitty (by Cookie)
Anita (by Mimi & Thirsty)
Mrs. Lucious Lyon
Bitch (by enemies)
Family and Friends
Family: Claire Calhoun (mother)
Stanley Calhoun (father)
Bella Lyon (daughter with Hakeem)
Relationships: Lucious Lyon (ex-husband)
Hakeem Lyon (on & off; formerly)
Mimi Whiteman(one night stand)
Angelo DuBois(ex-boyfriend)
Employer: Lucious Lyon (formerly)
Billy Beretti (formerly)
Cookie Lyon (briefly)
Employees: Veronica (formerly)
Tiana Brown (formerly)
Enemies: Rhonda Lyon
Cookie Lyon
Lucious Lyon
Laura Calleros (formerly)
Leah Walker
Andre Lyon
Additional Information
Interests: Getting rid of Laura & being with Hakeem (failed)
Killing Rhonda and her baby (succeeded)
Steal Empire & Bella from the Lyons (failed)
Empire Chronology
First Appearance: Pilot
Last Appearance: The Empire Unpossess'd (Deceased)
Portrayer: Grace Byers

Anika Calhoun was a main character in the television series Empire. Personally appointed by Lucious Lyon for her unique ear and artistic sensibility, Anika helped launch the careers of artists on the Empire label. She was Lucious' ex-wife and the mother of Hakeem's daughter, Bella Lyon. Anika was portrayed by actress Grace Byers, and she first appeared in Pilot.

In the season 4 finale, The Empire Unpossess’d, the character Anika Calhoun meets her tragic end. Andre Lyon had drugged Anika, which led her to experience hallucinations of Rhonda Lyon. As Anika attempts to flee from what she perceives as Rhonda’s ghost, she hears the words, “Karma’s a bitch.” In her panicked state, Anika stumbles and falls onto a glass table. The fall proves fatal, and the last thing she sees before her death is the apparition of Rhonda.

Biography[]

A debutante hailing from New Orleans, Louisiana, Anika is the daughter of Dr. Stanley D. Calhoun and his wife Claire Marie.

She earned a Bachelor's degree in political science from Loyola University Chicago in 2000, and later an MBA from Harvard Business School in 2006. By 2009, she was already dating Lucious Lyon and worked as the head of A&R at Empire Entertainment.   


Relationships[]

Lucious Lyon[]

Anika has a somewhat close relationship with Lucious at the start of the series; however, it begins to deteriorate as the series progresses. She continues to act protective around him due to her growing distaste for his ex-wife, Cookie. When Lucious proposes to her, she accepts happily, though her parents, especially her mother, are more hesitant due to the fact that Lucious has been prone to committing acts of infidelity in the past. However, when she discovers Lucious and Cookie in bed with one another, she feels betrayed. Her love for him diminishes, though her obsession with him does not. She discovers that her father lied about Lucious' ALS and signed an official document stating that nothing was wrong with him so that Empire could become public. In an effort to prevent him from dumping her, Anika threatens to release confidential information that could potentially destroy the company if he does not marry her immediately, and if he does not announce their marriage publicly in front of Cookie. When Cookie reveals to her that they had sex a second time, Anika throws away her wedding ring and begins plotting against Lucious with his rival, Billy. In the season two finale, Lucious marries Anika in order to prevent her from testifying in court against him.

Cookie Lyon[]

Anika's dislike of Cookie has increased steadily as the show progresses. They often refer to each other using profane language, and Cookie has taken to calling her "boo-boo kitty." Anika tries often to sabotage Cookie's endeavors, going so far as to even drug one of the artists that she is in charge of so that she is incapable of performing. Anika becomes jealous of Cookie as she notices Lucious' care for her, to the point that he even says audibly that he loves her, and then has sex with Cookie on two occasions. They later have a fight in the season one finale, when confronting one another during a meeting to discuss a future hostile takeover of Empire.

Hakeem Lyon[]

When Hakeem dissed Lucious publicly due to his newfound hatred of him after finding out he had Camilla extradited, Hakeem went to Creedmoor to discuss a label signing with Beretti, at which point both he and Anika hooked up, something Lucious witnessed, and then went to Hakeem's place and had sex, both simply doing it to get back at Lucious. Anika plants the idea of a hostile takeover in Hakeem's mind, helping him try to usurp control of the company from his father. Anika began to fall in love with Hakeem after Hakeem hooked up with her again and was impregnated with his baby. As season 2 progresses, her love for Hakeem begins to turn into an obsession as she begins to stalk him and his girlfriend.

Episode Appearances (20/30)[]

Season 1 (11/12)

Season 2 (9/18)

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