Photo: Los Angeles Police Department
Actress Chanel Maya Banks broke her silence after her family claimed she was still missing despite the Los Angeles Police Department confirming that she was found unharmed earlier this week.
"As you can see I am alive interview loading" Banks said in a video shared on her verified Instagram account Friday (November 15) morning.
Banks, 36, who appeared in roles on Gossip Girl and Blue Bloods, was reportedly located in Texas uninjured on Monday (November 11), an LAPD spokesperson told the New York Post. The verified Instagram account under the actress' name -- which had posts dating back to December 2022 -- released several statements stating that she "was never missing" and ran away from her family to be baptized by Pastor Robert Clancey.
Banks' cousin, Danielle-Tori Singh, however, claimed that the account is being run by an "imposter" and that the family will continue distributing "Missing Persons" flyers, ABC 7 Chicago reports.
“I have the still from Texas PD body cam footage that was shown to us on Monday Nov 11 at the Pacific Police Station in LA,” Singh wrote on her Instagram Story. “This is the woman they’re telling us is Chanel. We have told them this is not Chanel. They didn’t listen to us and closed the case.”
“That’s why @ohhheychanel won’t post a video saying she’s safe because it’s not Chanel,” added Singh, who flew in from Toronto to help with the search.
Banks was reported to have vanished from her Los Angeles apartment two weeks ago after having last made contact with her cousin and her mother, Judy Singh, who both flew to from the East Coast to search for her.
“Five days without hearing from my cousin is red flags and alarm bells,” Danielle told ABC 7 Eyewitness News prior to reports of her cousin being found.
“She doesn’t go more than 48 hours without speaking to me or her mom…That girl is more like a big sister to me,” she added. “In my soul and in my gut, something is not right. Something is up. We’re now crossing more than two weeks now with not a word, not a sound, nothing.”
Banks' family claimed that her husband, who was not named in a GoFundMe account launched after her disappearance, wasn't matching their effort to find his missing wife, which they deemed "suspicious."
“He’s not willing to help LAPD. He’s not willing to help me or her mom find her. He is removing flyers off of posts and cars,” Danielle alleged via ABC 7 Eyewitness News.
The LAPD had previously told the family that no signs of foul play were suspected in relation to Banks' disappearance and confirmed that “her husband [had] not committed any crime by withholding information,” according to the GoFundMe page.
Banks appeared as Sawyer Bennett in three episodes of the television series Gossip Girl as Sawyer Bennett in 2009 and one episode of Blue Bloods as Maria Romano in 2010, as well as the film Twelve as Shelly, having been credited as Chanel Farrell for all three roles.