Lisa Maxwell's daughter Beau Jessup dies at 27 while studying at Columbia

Columbia confirms the death

Beau Jessup, 27, died in New York while enrolled in the master's programme in journalism at Columbia University. The Columbia Journalism School announced the death in a statement that offered condolences to her family, friends and classmates. No cause of death has been given, and Focus reports that she died unexpectedly. Reports differ on when the announcement came: the Evening Standard dates the statement to Monday, 9 November, while Focus says the university confirmed the death on 12 November on social media.

“The J-School is working with Beau's family to offer support and assistance during this difficult time.”

A mother known from British television

Beau was the only child of Lisa Maxwell, an actress and television host, and her husband Paul Jessup. Maxwell is best known in Britain for her role in the police drama The Bill and for her appearances on the talk show Loose Women. Adnkronos reports that Maxwell had not yet made a public statement about her daughter's death. Beau was due to complete her master's degree in May 2027, and in September she appeared in the class photo for that year. Her mother shared the picture on X at the time and publicly congratulated her, saying she made them all very proud.

An interview published after her death

The school published an interview with Beau from October, originally recorded for its Notebook series on students, after receiving her family's consent. Focus says Beau had already cleared the interview for publication shortly before her death. In it she explained how growing up with a television actress shaped her view of journalism.

“As the daughter of a television actress, I grew up with an unusual awareness of the distance between people's lives and the stories told about them.”

She described how journalism can shed light on a person's experience while also distorting it. After graduating she wanted to work as a journalist and writer. The interview also touched on her life in New York, where she enjoyed Broadway shows and exploring the Upper West Side.

Earlier work and studies

As a teenager Beau launched Special Name, a website that helped Chinese parents choose English names for their newborns. Users picked five of 12 personality traits they hoped their child would grow into, and the site then offered three names. Focus says she was 16 when she set it up, and the Evening Standard reports it earned her more than £48,000 in its first six months. Before moving to New York she studied at Cambridge, where the Evening Standard says she completed a master's in writing for performance, and Focus adds the London School of Economics to her studies.

What remains unknown

Neither the school nor the family has said how Beau died. The school's statement offered support to the family, and the family had not commented publicly in the reports reviewed. The circumstances remain unclear in every report.