Gossip Girl's Chanel Maya Banks Offers Explanation for Disappearance

Gossip Girl alum Chanel Maya Banks is sharing her perspective about what led to her reported disappearance.

“It is a simple explanation,” Banks, 36, told Extra in an interview published Monday, November 18. “I had to take myself out of a bad situation, and I’m sure a lot of people can relate to that. What transpired from that is what you’re seeing in the media now.”

Banks’ mother and cousin filed a missing persons report earlier this month after asking local police to perform a welfare check. The pair also held a press conference asking for the public’s help in finding the actress.

“The last text we got from her before her phone went off the grid was October 30,” Banks’ cousin Danielle-Tori Singh told KTLA on November 12. “I’m not going to leave California until I find my cousin.”

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In her latest interview, Banks addressed her family’s press conference and alleged she isn’t close to Singh.

“You’re seeing two people right now: my mother and my cousin, whom I have not spoken to for 10 years,” she told Extra. “This is not someone I have a relationship with. We definitely don’t have a sister-sister relationship.”

“In the past when I’ve tried to get away, this is exactly what happens,” Banks continued. “For years, I’ve tried to set boundaries to make myself feel safe and I was met with resistance to say the least.”

The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed to KTLA on November 13 that Banks was located safely in Texas. Singh also confirmed via Facebook that her cousin was safe.

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“We have not tried to contact her or find her because she’s said she wishes to be left alone,” Singh wrote via Facebook on November 16. “All we wanted was proof of life and that’s what we got. We are SO happy that things didn’t go a different way. We want to thank the public, social media, LAPD, Texas PD, Missing Persons Dept of LA, family and friends and complete and total strangers who were by our sides during the most horrific week of our life.”

According to Banks, she went to a secluded Texas town and turned off her phone to unplug. While visiting, she was able to meet with a pastor, who was in town from Australia.

“I haven’t been gone for three weeks. I haven’t been missing for three weeks,” she declared. “I’m an adult woman. I don’t need to call my mother every day. I’m alive and you’re going to be seeing so much more of me.”