'Gossip Girl' Actress Chanel Banks Has Been Missing for 2 Weeks, Family Claims Her Husband 'Is Not Willing to Help LAPD' Find Her
Nov. 13 2024, Published 10:53 a.m. ET
Actress Chanel Banks' loved ones are desperately searching for the Gossip Girl alum, as she has not been seen or heard from since October 30.
While there are no clues as to what happened, her cousin Danielle-Tori Singh admitted Banks' husband has done nothing to try and locate the star, who lives in the Playa Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles.
"He's not willing to help LAPD. He's not wiling to help me or her mom find her," she told a news outlet of Banks' spouse, who has not been named as a suspect thus far. "He is removing flyers off of posts and cars."
Singh believes her cousin — who appeared in three episodes of the original drama series as Jenny Humphrey's friend Sawyer Bennett — could be in trouble, noting that "red flags" and "alarm bells" went off for her after not hearing from Banks for five days.
"She doesn't go more than 48 hours without speaking to me or her mom," she explained. "That girl is more like a big sister to me."
The brood hired a private investigator to assist them and launched a GoFundMe page to help pay for the fees.
On the fundraiser page, Singh explained she and her mom went to Banks' apartment, and "the only items we did not locate are her phone and laptop. She also does not go anywhere without her little dog, which also has been left behind."
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The brood also revealed that her husband of one year has been giving them vague statements.
"We noticed on November 10 that her husband has a busted lip and marks and scratches on his neck and arms. Police were called on November 10 and they took pictures of his injuries, which he did not have two days ago when police did the last welfare check," Singh spilled. "We asked him where is Chanel, and all he continues to say is 'she does not want to be found, she will reach out when she’s ready.'"
The husband told his spouse's relatives that he doesn't know where she is but claimed the last time he saw or heard from her was November 7 — though he never contacted authorities on his own.
Banks, who has also appeared in Blue Bloods, had an Instagram account but it has since been deactivated. Her last social media post came in September via TikTok.
In her most recent video, Banks said she was "pondering the significance of unadulterated individuality."
"For most, it takes courage to be one's authentic self in a world where everyone thinks, acts, and strives to look like everyone else. I'm not deterred in the least, no. I strive to exist in that all-encompassing ever-expansive bliss of bucking the zeitgeist and just doing me," she continued. "So I've decided I'm now in my 'who cares what they say' era, my 'because I can' era. Because at the end of it all, we always admire the originators: the ones who write their own stories."
Eyewitness News spoke with Singh.