The questions about the bizarre “missing actress” scandal are close to being answered, and the family of the former “Gossip Girl” star has conceded that the search was for naught.
Chanel Banks, known for her roles in the teen drama and in “Blue Bloods” was reported missing from her Playa Vista home on Nov. 8 by her family. She turned up in Texas days later, according to police.
In posts to Instagram on Wednesday, Banks said she left to Texas to be baptized by her favorite pastor and to “escape” from the family that reported her missing, confirming what her husband told KTLA earlier in the day.
“Please do not donate to any GoFundMe that says I am missing,” the posts read in part. “I am not missing.”
That GoFundMe, that was organized and promoted by Banks’ cousin Danielle-Tori Singh, has since been taken down.
When news originally broke that the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed that Banks was found by authorities in Texas, Singh slammed media outlets that reported it and said that the woman who appeared on an officers’ body camera was not her cousin.
“TMZ IS REPORTING FAKE NEWS,” she wrote on Facebook Wednesday morning.
Singh stuck with that claim until late Thursday night, when Banks posted a short video to YouTube and announced that she was filming a television interview.
“As you can see, I am alive,” Banks said while getting her makeup done in preparation for the interview with a yet-to-be-announced television station. “Interview loading.”
Singh posted on Facebook that the family confirmed that Banks was found three hours before that video was posted.
After admitting that Banks was found and alive, Singh said that all donations that were made to the now-deleted GoFundMe would be refunded. Thousands of dollars were raised for the search efforts of the non-missing person.
When announcing that she was alive and safe, Banks posted on Instagram that she wanted to “escape” her mother and her mother’s family. She accused the family of being “fame hungry” and said she was a victim of sexual abuse from her step-father.
Toward the end of the post, Banks claims that she and her husband’s family were pursuing a conservatorship, which prompted her to cut off communications.
Banks said her communication with Singh was infrequent, a claim that Singh has since denied with screenshots of text messages supposedly exchanged with Banks.
As of Friday afternoon, it’s not clear when Banks’ television interview will air, or which station or program it will air on.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
