An actress who had been reported missing by her family two weeks ago has fortunately been found safe but was seemingly happy to be free from said family.
The missing person was Chanel Banks, who is best known for her roles on “Gossip Girl,” “Blue Bloods,” and “Twelve,” according to her IMDB page.
Her family filed a missing persons report with the Los Angeles Police Department after the actress disappeared from her apartment. But on Nov. 11 she was found in Texas and, according to authorities, no foul play was involved.
“She is fine,” LAPD spokesperson Charles Miller told People magazine. “No danger. She is OK. She has been taken out of the missing person system for us and we have closed our investigation.”
No additional details were available.
Banks’ family, however, disagrees with the finding, and even slammed TMZ for reporting that the actress was found.
“TMZ IS REPORTING FAKE NEWS,” her cousin, Danielle-Tori Singh, wrote on Facebook.
This all began when Singh, who flew to California to search for Banks, recently told Nexstar’s KTLA that she hadn’t heard from Banks since late October. Banks’ mother, Judy Singh, also flew to L.A. from New York to help with the search.
Once she learned that Banks’ phone was dead and that her car and dog were still at her Playa Vista apartment, she contacted the police.
The family also launched a GoFundMe page that was organized by Singh to help search efforts.
But a string of stories posted to Banks’ personal Instagram account on Wednesday indicated that Banks is safe, although she accused her family of abuse.
“Please do not donate to any GoFundMe that says I am missing,” one post reads. “I am not missing.”
The Instagram account is verified, and was created in April 2021. The account even includes clips from “Gossip Girl” and snapshots with Banks’ husband, Carlos Jimenez.
“She had decided she didn’t want to talk to the family anymore due to past issues that they had,” Jimenez recently told KTLA during a phone interview.
The posts that went up Wednesday indicated that she took a trip to Texas due to family issues. One post said that Banks and her husband’s family were pursuing a conservatorship, which led her to cease all communication.
Previously, Los Angeles authorities confirmed to the news outlet that they were looking into the 36-year-old’s disappearance and performed four separate welfare checks, all of which were unsuccessful.
While Banks is now considered found by authorities and is no longer listed, the family doesn’t believe that to be true and is under the impression that she is being impersonated.
In a lengthy video posted to Facebook, Singh said she had seen captured footage from Texas police showing an altercation with a person authorities said was Banks. The woman appeared to be skinnier than Banks and was wearing clothes the actress wouldn’t, Singh said.
Singh said she doesn’t believe the woman is her cousin, due to police identifying the woman who had Banks’ New York driver’s license, which Singh said is a decade old and is expired.
“Please don’t stop looking for my cousin,” Singh said.
