What Chanel Maya Banks Videos Reveal Before She Went Missing
Chanel Maya Banks, the Gossip Girl actress who is believed to have been missing since late October, often shared snippets about her life on social media.
The 36-year-old, who is sometimes known as Chanel Farrell, was reported missing by her family to Los Angeles police because they hadn't heard from her since before the end of last month. The actress, who lives in the Playa Vista area of Los Angeles, hasn't posted on TikTok since September and her Instagram was deactivated in recent days.
"I can tell you in my soul, in my gut, something is not right. ... We're crossing two weeks now without a word, without a sound. Nothing," Danielle-Tori Singh, Banks' cousin, said in an interview with ABC7.
Singh and and Banks' mom flew to Los Angeles from Toronto and New York City, respectively, to try and find the actress. They also set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to hire a private investigator to locate Banks alongside the official police investigation.
Video on Banks' TikTok show that she married her husband, known only as CJ, in August last year. Her family have claimed he hasn't been cooperating with police and told them that Banks "does not want to be found, she will reach out when she's ready."
Newsweek contacted Singh by Facebook messenger and the LAPD on Wednesday morning for comment.
Banks' first TikTok showed her celebrating Christmas and Hanukkah with a family at a home in Aspen, and on the same day she posted a clip of herself singing a song from the musical Wicked to mark "Musical Mondays."
Most of her following videos included celebrating New Year's Eve with her partner, and then joining the vlog trend of documenting her life and major milestones with a montage of moments and a voiceover describing the events.
Many of the vlogs described a birthday trip they took to San Diego for her partner's birthday and also the shopping trip he took her on for her birthday.
Another blog showed people how she picked the wedding dress for her nuptials where she tried on a range of dresses and shared her thoughts on each gown.
"The day I found THE DRESS ," Banks captioned the post. "I never was the little girl who married my dolls off or dreamt of the perfect white dress. I was cruising on kid-sized atv's and spraying BB 's.
"So, experiencing this level of joy picking out my wedding dress was such a blessing and unexpected delight. The space was gorgeous and sun-filled, and choosing the dress for the big day was an absolute pleasure!"
Active on Social Media
Banks' fiancé regularly appeared in the videos, including trying fruit together with their arms intertwined to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashana.
They also appeared in videos spending time in New York City, which she described as her "home land," but she admitted that her favorite part of visiting was the moment of "leaving it."
The actress whose credits include Blue Bloods and the movie Twelve had recently focused her career on writing and posted a TikTok amid the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Those strikes by TV and film writers brought Hollywood to a standstill for months in 2023.
"Give us our money, I'd like to get back to work," she began, referring to the negotiations between writers and major studios.
In the caption she added: "Asking for a better contract that covers the most basic cost of living in a time where streamers are streaming away and movie tickets are increasing in price... well it just isn't so outlandish."
In August last year, she shared a short video announcing she'd married CJ. The brief TikTok showed the couple kissing by a tree, and she declared: "These memories will stay with me forever."
" WE GOT MARRIED!! CJ & CJ FOREVER A rope made of three cords is hard to break. And if someone overpowers one person, two can withstand him. A cord of three strands is not easily broken ," Banks captioned the post.
Banks' more recent videos showed her doing a dance class and attending a Netflix event for its show, Avatar: The Last Airbender, where she filmed a Q&A at the event and some of the actors at the event afterwards.
One of her last videos showed her taking a nighttime swim at a pool with her husband and other people, which turned out to be her regular Bible study group.
"Recently, I've really come to value community on a whole new level. I wouldn't consider myself a misanthrope - but if the past was any indication, I didn't exactly thrive in a hive," she captioned the video.
"It was initially with great effort that I'd found myself here in the first place years ago, voluntarily gathered amongst 30 or so others in the beautiful living-room of our much beloved friends for Bible study."
She then revealed they decided to go for a dip in the outdoor pool once they'd finished their study that evening.
"As I slid into the water I felt such peace wash over me like I was bathing in the afterglow of prayers faithfully dispatched. I finally feel like I found my place and my people," she wrote. "There's nothing like swimming outside in the warmth of the night in California - it just didn't happen - only now it did. And we were there to soak in the moment together in the presence of His grace."
