Loose Women star Lisa Maxwell’s daughter Beau Jessup dies aged 27
The daughter of Loose Women star Lisa Maxwell has died aged just 27.
Beau Jessup was studying for her masters at Columbia University in New York.
The university confirmed her tragic passing in a statement.
“Columbia Journalism School mourns the loss of Beau Jessup, a student in our M.S. program,” the statement read.
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“We join Jessup’s family, friends and classmates in remembering her.”
No cause of death or further details have been shared at this time.
Beau was the only child of TV personality and actress Maxwell, 62, who is best known for appearing on Loose Women and The Bill, and her husband Paul Jessup.
Beau earned a spot in the prestigious Ivy League university’s journalism school and was pictured in its Class of 2027 in September - she was due to graduate in May.
Maxwell shared the snap of her daughter to X, writing: “Congratulations guys! Especially my daughter Beau over in NYC making us all super proud.”
In a recent interview shared by Columbia University, Beau spoke of her aspirations after she finished her education: “I want to work as a journalist and writer, reporting on people, culture, and social questions with the rigor I’m learning at Columbia.
“I’m particularly drawn to journalism for its power and immediacy, while continuing to write for theatre when a subject benefits from being explored
She also spoke about growing up with a famous parent, saying: "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. 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."
Before moving to the US, Beau had studied Social Anthropology at London School of Economics and Writing for Performance at the University of Cambridge.
Following her tragic passing, the dean of the Columbia Journalism School Jelani Cobb shared an email with Beau’s fellow students.
“There is no easy way to share news of this nature and I recognise how painful it is to receive messages like this one,” Cobb said.
"Any loss within our school family is difficult to process, and our thoughts and deepest condolences go out to Beau's family and friends during this heartbreaking time."
As well as being academically talented, Beau hit headlines while she was still just a teen after creating a website that helped Chinese parents find Western names for their kids based on their ideals and characteristics.
In an interview with The Standard in 2016, Beau revealed that she’d made almost £50,000 and helped some 220,000 Chinese parents choose names for their kids.
That same year, Beau was invited to give a TEDx Talk on how she came up with the idea and then turned it into a successful business.
Topics: UK News
Claire Reid
