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Empire exclusive first look: Mariah Carey hits the studio...in a bodysuit! The pop star duets with Jussie Smollett's Jamal in season 3 of the Fox series Empire Posted September 7 2016 — 9:00 AM EDT IT’S FINALLY HAPPENING!!!! After years of rumors, Mariah Carey is set to guest-star on Empire. Good friend (and Precious director) Lee Daniels has been teasing a Carey cameo since the first season and decided enough was enough. “I said, ‘It’s time to put Mariah on the show because I am going to be a liar to the world and to her,’” says the show’s co-creator and EP with a laugh. Carey will portray Kitty, a singer brought in by Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) to duet with Jamal (Jussie Smollett). The Lyon matriarch thinks working with a star as big as Kitty will help her son deal with his PTSD and stage fright after being shot near the end of last season. “She’s the one that sees everybody’s always telling Jamal what to do,” says Smollett. “From Lucious to Cookie to the media to his fans. Kitty is a person who’s a much bigger star than Jamal and she’s there to kind of be like, ‘Stop. He’s human.’” An unabashed Carey fan, Smollett says it was a surreal experience. “I’m just like, ‘Yo, that’s Mariah Carey talking to me, telling me how to sing something on a duet with her,’” he says excitedly. “Get the f— up out of here!” While Carey is currently slated only for the Oct. 5 episode, Daniels says he hopes Kitty will return and promises her Empire wardrobe is appropriately dramatic. (Please direct yourself to the aforementioned lacey, belted bodysuit). Teases Daniels, “Lots of hair and fishnets and stilettos!” Cookie’s gonna be jeaaaalous! Empire returns on Sept. 21 at 9 p.m. ET on Fox.