Los Angeles actress Chanel Maya Banks shares new video on Instagram during family press conference

LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Los Angeles actress Chanel Maya Banks, who has been reported missing and has not been seen by her family since October 30, took to social media on Thursday to reassure fans that she is safe after family members shared doubts about her whereabouts .

“As you can see, I’m alive,” the 36-year-old said in a video posted on Thursday. an Instagram account under her name.

Earlier this week, the Los Angeles Police Department said Banks, known for her roles on the TV shows Gossip Girl and Blue Bloods, was unharmed and no foul play is suspected in her disappearance, adding that the case was closed.

In addition, reports were published alleging abuse at the hands of her family and stating that she had voluntarily left “to escape my cage”.

“Follow me (YouTube) I’ll be posting my official interview…and in the coming days…answers to ALL your questions,” she wrote in an Instagram story.

When informed of the update from the Los Angeles Police Department, Banks’ cousin Danielle-Tori Singh called it “fake news” and vowed to continue distributing fliers describing Banks as missing. The family plans to hold a press conference on Friday.

Singh told ABC7 on Tuesday that a tip led police to a home in Texas, where a woman came to the door and identified herself as Banks. Police later showed Banks’ family body camera video of the encounter, according to Singh, who said the woman was not Banks, adding that the woman in the footage did not look like the actress when she was last seen during the FaceTime conversation. .

Before police said she had been found, relatives said the 36-year-old actress and Playa Vista resident had not been heard from since late last month.

Authorities searched her home, and her family said they recently entered the apartment where she had lived with her husband of one year and found her belongings and her dog there.

Singh, who traveled from Toronto to help with the search, said she is very close to her cousin. When even a few days passed without any message or contact from her, she and other family members became worried.

“Five days without any news about my cousin is a wake-up call,” Singh told Eyewitness News earlier this week. “She doesn’t go more than 48 hours without talking to me or her mom… This girl is more like an older sister to me.”

(However, an Instagram account under Banks’ name claimed, “I haven’t spoken to Danielle in over 15 years, much less every day or 48 hours because they are perjury.”)

Singh was handing out leaflets in the Banks area. She said Tuesday that Banks’ husband was not cooperating with the family or authorities.

“He doesn’t want to help the LAPD. He doesn’t want to help me or her mother find her,” Singh said. “He takes leaflets off poles and cars.”

Banks’ IMDB page lists appearances on TV shows such as Blue Bloods, Twelve, and Gossip Girl. Sometimes she performed under the name Chanel Farrell.

Singh said her cousin had moved away from acting in recent years and focused on writing.

“I can tell you in my soul, in my gut, that something is wrong,” Singh said Tuesday. “We pass two weeks without a single word, without a sound. Nothing”.