Gossip Girl alum Chanel Banks has been found safe, Entertainment Weekly has confirmed, following reports that her whereabouts were unknown. However, the actress herself took to Instagram stories to reveal that she was not missing, and was simply trying to evade abuse at the hands of her family.
The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed that Banks was found safe. LAPD spokesperson Charles Miller told People,
"She is fine. No danger. She is OK. She has been taken out of the missing person system for us and we have closed our investigation.”
Per the outlet, Officer Norma Eisenman confirmed that she was located in Texas on Monday, November 11, noting that "She has been located and the case is now closed." According to Heavy, the police believe there was no foul play involved.
Chanel Banks claims her family is trying to impose a conservatorship on her
Chanel Banks was reported to be missing since October 30, and her family had set up a GoFundMe to help bring her back home. The page has since been taken down. However, Banks alleged that it was all a facade. In her stories, she wrote:
"My name is Chanel Banks I'm a 36 year old American Nobody, and for my entire life I have been silently carrying the pain of the ritual sexual abuse, manipulation, and outright endless torment I've endured continuously since I was a defenseless baby, at the hands of my own so called family, whom are all so very "concerned" about my current whereabouts."
She continued,
"I have met with the Police and verified that not only am I okay, but l'm finally free from my mother Judy Kumar and her family. They say, once you're free in Christ Jesus, you're free indeed, so I told my husband six days ago I was going to get baptized by one of my favorite pastors Pastor Robert Clancy. He drove me to the airport and then I was off for a week...but I also saw it as an opportunity to escape my cage. God said: I'm going to give you some money and I was shocked when it appeared just like He said! Then He said: I want you to move. So I made my Exodus and took my Freedom Ride first class (on Spirit air no less) to the Promise Land."
However, Chanel Banks asserted that she is now looking for "freedom," not just for herself but for all those suffering in silence. She continued, claiming that she is now looking for justice and that she "won't be ashamed anymore." Her statement went on:
"I'm releasing a clarion call to those in high places who still have a soul and want to keep it in such a time as this. Reach out. Help me. I will never allow myself to be silenced ever again- least of all by my abusers."
In the following paragraphs, Chanel Banks called on "a massive restructuring" to prevent others from going through the abuse she did. She then name-dropped her mother in a bombshell claim:
"For 36 crushing years I've had to endure the most abominable abuses spearheaded by my very own mother: Judy Kumar 59 years old resident of South Richmond Hill Queens New York (other aliases include Lutchmin Ramenalsingh). And at the hands of my pedophile and fraud-committing step-father Josesh Kumar 59yrs old."
She accused Kumar of forcing himself on her since "before she could recall," noting that it went on well into her adult life and as recent as 2014. She also pledged to take down her "aunts and uncles" in court and asserted that she hadn't spoken to her cousin, Danielle, for over 15 years.
According to multiple outlets, when the news of Banks being found safe came out, Danielle claimed it was "fake." She also pledged to continue spreading the news about her cousin sister's disappearance in the hopes of one day finding her. She distributed flyers in Banks' neighborhood and claimed that her husband had not been cooperating with the family or authorities:
"He's not willing to help LAPD. He's not willing to help me or her mom find her," Singh said. "He is removing flyers off of posts and cars."
According to ABC News, Danielle claimed that there was no way Banks would go a day without talking to her:
"Five days without hearing from my cousin is red flags and alarm bells. 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."
Chanel Banks goes on to accuse her family of trying to impose a conservatorship on her. She claims they tried to "silence" her and tried to strip her of her rights. She also accused them of "isolating and gaslighting" her. She ended her long rant by calling on all her fans to refrain from donating to the now-deleted GoFundMe page set up in her honor.
On November 13, Banks echoed the statements to True Crime News. She said:
"For decades my family has been my spiritual, physical, and emotional warden, giving me zero authority of my personage. I was not allowed to make any decisions in life in any way without their approval. … Every instance I’d get close to leaving they’d falsify official government documents relaying lies concerning my mental health — for the record — I have no mental health or any other record aside from a parking ticket here and there, so law enforcement would unquestionably and mercilessly pursue me.”
According to Us Weekly, Banks tied the knot with an unnamed man with the initials CJ in November 2023. The GoFundMe her family set up sought to raise funds to hire a private investigator. It alleged that
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"Chanel has no family or friends here and would NEVER go somewhere without telling her mom."
By November 13, the page had already raised over $4000.
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