--- title: Lee Daniels on the Women Who Changed His Life | TIME description: “I never saw myself as a filmmaker because I didn’t know there were African American filmmakers, so I never really had anyone to look up to, because there weren’t any really,” says Daniels, a filmmaker and creator of the TV series Empire. canonical: https://time.com/video/DUbV2mi7/ og:title: Lee Daniels on the Women Who Changed His Life og:description: “I never saw myself as a filmmaker because I didn’t know there were African American filmmakers, so I never really had anyone to look up to, because there weren’t any really,” says Daniels, a filmmaker and creator of the TV series Empire. og:url: https://time.com/video/DUbV2mi7/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/DUbV2mi7/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Lee Daniels on the Women Who Changed His Life twitter:description: “I never saw myself as a filmmaker because I didn’t know there were African American filmmakers, so I never really had anyone to look up to, because there weren’t any really,” says Daniels, a filmmaker and creator of the TV series Empire. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/DUbV2mi7/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Lee Daniels on the Women Who Changed His Life > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Lee Daniels on the Women Who Changed His Life [Watch (HLS stream): Lee Daniels on the Women Who Changed His Life](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/DUbV2mi7.m3u8) (2:37)  _Published 2015-04-16. “I never saw myself as a filmmaker because I didn’t know there were African American filmmakers, so I never really had anyone to look up to, because there weren’t any really,” says Daniels, a filmmaker and creator of the TV series Empire._ --- Jul 27, 2023 6:10 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Lee Daniels: "Just Because It's Black Don't Mean It's Woke"](/video/f4qFyUJr/) ### Lee Daniels: "Just Because It's Black Don't Mean It's Woke" [Intelligence Chiefs Say They Weren't 'Pressured' to Intervene in FBI Investigation](/video/JoozqaJs/) ### Intelligence Chiefs Say They Weren't 'Pressured' to Intervene in FBI Investigation [FCC Fines AT&T, Says 'Unlimited' Data Plans Weren't Unlimited](/video/zpHXA4TP/) ### FCC Fines AT&T, Says 'Unlimited' Data Plans Weren't Unlimited --- ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] I want you to experience my life, and I think that that's the purest form of art, is to experience what I experience. I was bullied. As a kid or forever. I learned to not go to the bathroom from the time that I was in kindergarten through sixth grade, because I was too afraid to go into the bathroom. That's how bullied I was. That's real. That's very, very real. I felt like an outsider when I was a kid. When I finally embrace that this is what I wanted to do I look at everybody else as outsiders if you're on my train then come on aboard. You know Precious wasn't an outsider you know these are people that I know these are people that are real to me these are people that I grew up with. You know the people in Empire. But it was music that played through my mind that kept me alive when I thought I was gonna get shot. Monster's Ball. I'm Cecil Gaines. I'm the new butler. The Butler. These are, they aren't outsiders. They are people like, and that's my world that I live in. And if you don't understand it then you're an outsider. [ MUSIC ] I never saw myself as a filmmaker because there, I didn't know that there were African American filmmakers, there were black filmmakers or makers of color. So I never really had someone to look up to or someone to aspire to be because there weren't any really. Boom. Cut. These two. African American women really inspired me to do what I do because they believed in me when I didn't believe in myself. Susan Taylor, from Essence magazine, and I was in my 20's. She saw something in me that I didn't see in myself. A lady named Cynthia Robinson Oredugba. Who was the first African American agent at William Morris some 35 years ago, 40 years ago. They're not famous, famous, but they're very famous in my eyes. I felt recognized for the first time in my life when Spike Lee, he pulled me to the aside and he said, I don't think you realize how you've changed the face of television. I had a moment to reflect and think, oh wow, oh wow, holy crap wow. I passed that guy, I've got to live up to something now. Yeah. Is that crazy that, you know, you. 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