Beau Jessup, the daughter of British actress and television personality Lisa Maxwell, has died at the age of 27.
The news was announced by Columbia Journalism School in New York, where Beau was pursuing a master’s degree in journalism.
Expected to graduate in 2027
In a statement shared on the school’s website on Monday, November 9, the institution paid tribute to the young student and offered its condolences to her loved ones.
“Columbia Journalism School mourns the loss of Beau Jessup, a student in our M.S. program,” the statement read.
“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.”
No details surrounding Beau’s death have been made public.
Beau had been expected to graduate in May 2027, with her studies at Columbia representing an important step toward the career she hoped to build in journalism.
Growing up as daughter of a TV actress
Alongside its announcement, the school shared an interview Beau had given to Columbia News in October. With her family’s permission, the university decided to publish the conversation in her memory, offering a glimpse into the person she was, her ambitions and the experiences she had been enjoying in New York.
In the interview, Beau spoke thoughtfully about why she had chosen journalism as a career.
Growing up as the daughter of a television actress had given her an early understanding of how differently a person’s real life could be portrayed in the media.
”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 continued: ”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. I was curious, from quite a young age, about who gets to tell people’s stories.”
It was a perspective that clearly shaped the kind of journalist Beau hoped to become. She said she wanted to report on people and culture, explore social questions and continue writing for theater alongside her journalism work.
Beau had already accomplished a great deal academically. Before joining Columbia, she earned a Master’s in Writing for Performance from the University of Cambridge and wrote her first play, The Sandbag.
She described the play as something that “interrogates how family, memory, the body, and inherited narratives shape the stories we tell about ourselves.”
Who is Lisa Maxwell?
Born in October 1999, Beau was the daughter of Lisa Maxwell, 62, and Paul Jessup.
Lisa is a familiar face to British television audiences. She began her stage career at just 14 and first rose to fame as a children’s television presenter on ITV’s Splash.
However, she is best known for her role in the long-running British police drama The Bill and as a panelist on the popular daytime talk show Loose Women. Away from her career in front of the camera, one of the most important roles in her life was being Beau’s mother.
In a 2008 interview with People, Lisa spoke about watching her daughter grow up and the special bond they shared.
“As she’s growing up, she’s become more of a little mate to me,” she said. “We have so much fun together, and I’m constantly amazed by all the new things she’s learning to do.”
She also reflected on just how much Beau had changed since she was born.
“When I think back to how tiny and helpless Beau was when she was born, and compare it to the funny, clever little girl she is now, it’s just unbelievable,”
Maxwell continued. “I’m so amazed that Paul and I created this little human being who’s so brilliant. I love the way Beau’s growing into her own personality.”
Now, as tributes emerge following the heartbreaking news, the interview shared by Columbia offers a chance to remember Beau not only as the daughter of a familiar television star, but as a talented young woman with her own voice, ambitions and stories she was just beginning to tell.
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