Reported Missing, “Gossip Girl ”Actress Chanel Banks Says After Being Found Safe: ‘I’m an Adult. I Don’t Have To Call My Mother’ (Exclusive)
"I kind of made preparations to head out, so to speak," says Banks after being located following her family's claims she was missing
"I kind of made preparations to head out, so to speak," says Banks after being located following her family's claims she was missing
Chanel Banks is ready to share her story.
In a preview of her appearance on True Crime News shared exclusively with PEOPLE ahead of its Monday, Nov. 18 air date, the Gossip Girl actress opens up about why she decided to distance herself from her family and leave Los Angeles for Texas.
The interview comes days after the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed to PEOPLE that Banks was found safe in Texas on Monday, Nov. 11. That was three days after she was reported missing by her relatives, who claimed that they hadn't heard from her for two weeks. Banks' family would later hold a press conference on Wednesday, Nov. 13, disputing that Banks had actually been found.
Speaking further to claims made on her verified Instagram account about being a victim of "abuse, manipulation, and outright endless torment" by her family, she expresses in the preview clip that what has transpired is a result of her mother's reaction "to not having that control."
Related: Police Say Gossip Girl Actress Chanel Banks Was Found Safe Chris Weeks/WireImage Chanel Banks at Fred Segal Fun at Village at the Yard during the 2010 Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2010
"I mean, the day I left was exactly seven days ago today. I haven't been gone for three weeks. I haven't been missing for three weeks. I'm an adult woman. I don't have to call my mother every day," she says.
"And lately, in the past couple months, I noticed the leash was getting longer, so I took advantage of that, and I kind of made preparations to head out, so to speak," she says. "And I think that's what really bamboozled her and got really upset."
Banks alleges that she's "tried to escape" in the past to no success and that her attempts at having her family "leave me alone" were never "enough."
Related: Gossip Girl Actress Chanel Banks Says She’s Not Missing, Makes Explosive Claims About Family Members Jason Kempin/Getty Chanel Banks attends "Take This Waltz" Special New York Screening at Sunshine Landmark on June 21, 2012
"She shows up to my house, but it's not just that first," she says.
"It is the phone calls, as I've mentioned, the cops will come after me so ardently every single time, and it's always when you're at the end of almost falling apart because people who've done things to you, abominable things, are in your face, and now they're forcing everyone else to force you right back to them."
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In a press release shared with PEOPLE, Banks also speaks about her relationship with her cousin, Danielle-Tori Singh, who created a GoFundMe that has since been taken down, where the alarm about Banks' whereabouts was first publicly raised. "This is not someone I have a relationship with [and] we definitely don't have a sister-sister relationship."
