Missing ‘Gossip Girl’ Actor Chanel Maya Banks Has Been Found Safe

Amid many distressing recent news stories, a bright spot: Chanel Maya Banks, a former actor who had a recurring role on the third season of Gossip Girl (as one of Jenny Humphrey’s minions), credited under the name Maya Farrell, has been found alive and unharmed shortly after her family reported her missing.

The situation came to light after Banks’s cousin Danielle-Tori Singh started a GoFundMe page to raise funds so that the family could travel to California to look for her, as she’d been living in Playa Vista.

“On November 10 my aunt and I were able to get into the apartment and all of her belongings are still there. 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. She also does not have her vehicle because it’s parked in her garage. She would NEVER go anywhere without telling her mom or myself,” she wrote on the page, per Deadline. Singh’s post noted that the family had not heard from Banks since October 30, and that although the police conducted multiple welfare checks at her home, she was never there.

Singh further revealed that Banks’s husband of a year told the family that she “did not want” to be found and would reach out “when she was ready.” Banks had recently pivoted from acting to writing.

On November 13, an LAPD spokesperson assured People that Chanel Maya Banks had been found alive and unharmed in Texas. Another agency (The Gossip Girl spotted map?) located her and reported the information to the police. “She is fine,” the spokesperson said. “No danger. She is OK. She has been taken out of the missing person system for us and we have closed our investigation.” TMZ further reports that Banks had no injuries and foul play is not suspected. Thank goodness!