Celebrity3 min(s) read
Daughter of beloved British actress dies suddenly aged 27 while studying at Columbia University
British actress and presenter Lisa Maxwell‘s daughter has died while studying in the USA.
Her daughter, Beau Jessup, was 27 years old and studying for her master’s degree in journalism at the Columbia Journalism School in New York City, per Just Jared.
The school announced she had passed away this week, noting in a statement: “Columbia Journalism School mourns the loss of Beau Jessup, a student in our M.S. program.
"We extend our deepest condolences to her family, friends, classmates and all who knew and loved her. The J-School is working with Beau’s family to offer support and assistance during this difficult time."
It added that she was interested in ‘cultural journalism, particularly how institutions, identity, and social expectations influence the way we live and understand one another.’
The 63-year-old actress’ daughter once held an interview with Columbia, where she said that she was inspired to pursue journalism because of her childhood experiences with her mother, stating: “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.”
Her cause of death has not been shared publicly.
Beau was the only child of Maxwell, who rose to fame with her career as DI Samantha Nixon on The Bill, and Paul Jessup.
Maxwell and Jessup married in 2014 and welcomed Beau in 1999.
Their daughter was due to graduate in May, per Metro UK.
When she began her course in September, Maxwell posted to X with the caption: “Congratulations guys! Especially my daughter Beau Jessup over in NYC making us all super proud.”
Jessup had been candid about her wish to follow her mother’s footsteps, and told her university about her time creating a business at 16 called ‘SpecialNames’ which was inspired by a mother seeking her help with naming a baby in China.
She said: “I’ve never really thought of those projects as entrepreneurial ventures. I was less interested in starting businesses than in finding ways to connect with people.
“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.
“I saw how journalism could illuminate someone’s experiences, but also how those experiences could be distorted, simplified, or transformed into a public narrative over which the subject had very little control.”
She added: “I was curious, from quite a young age, about who gets to tell people’s stories, and what happens when those stories enter the public domain.”