5 Photos of Beau Jessup: Lisa Maxwell's Only Daughter Dies at 27 While Studying at Columbia

Beau Rose Jessup, the only daughter of British actress and former Loose Women panellist Lisa Maxwell, has died aged 27 while studying at Columbia University in New York.Jessup, whose father is businessman Paul Jessup, was pursuing a master's degree in journalism and had been expected to graduate in May 2027.

Columbia Journalism School announced her death in a statement published on 9 November, expressing condolences to her family, friends and classmates. The circumstances surrounding her death have not been publicly disclosed.

Columbia University Remembers Beau Jessup

On 11 November, Columbia News published an interview conducted with Jessup shortly before her death.

The university explained that Jessup had already reviewed an edited version of the conversation. Following her death, the interview was released with her family's permission as a tribute to her life and aspirations.

During the discussion, Jessup spoke about her enthusiasm for journalism, her experiences in New York and her determination to explore the relationship between culture, identity and society.

She credited professors Alexandra Zayas and Nina Alvarez with strengthening her understanding of investigative reporting, verification and responsible journalism. Before arriving in New York, Jessup studied Social Anthropology at the London School of Economics and Writing for Performance at the University of Cambridge.

Beau Jessup Built a Successful Business as a Teenager

Long before attending Columbia, Jessup had attracted international attention for an unusual business idea. At 16, she launched SpecialName, a website designed to help Chinese parents select English names for their children.

The project became an unexpected success, eventually inspiring a TEDx talk in which she discussed helping to name approximately one million babies. According to a 2016 Daily Mail interview, Jessup had already earned £48,000 through the venture while still a teenager.

She also created Beau's Community Bakes, a newspaper column that combined recipes with conversations about the experiences of older people in her community.

Reflecting on these projects in her Columbia interview, Jessup explained that her motivation was less about commercial success than understanding people's experiences and helping them connect.

Lisa Maxwell Previously Celebrated Her Daughter's Achievements

Maxwell, known for playing Samantha Nixon in The Bill and appearing on ITV's Loose Women, had publicly expressed pride in her daughter's academic journey. According to the Daily Mail, the actress shared a photograph of Columbia Journalism School's Class of 2027 in September, celebrating Jessup's place among the students.

Jessup also had ambitions beyond journalism. While studying at Cambridge, she wrote The Sandbag, a play exploring family relationships, memory and the stories people inherit. She had been developing the production in New York and hoped to continue writing for theatre alongside her journalism career.

Beau Jessup's Plans for the Future

In her final published interview, Jessup described her ambition to report on cultural and social issues while continuing to develop her creative writing. She also shared lighter details about student life, including her love of Broadway, exploring Manhattan's Upper West Side and discovering New York's mocktail scene.

Her reflections offer a personal glimpse of a young woman whose interests extended across journalism, theatre and community storytelling. Columbia's decision to publish the interview preserves Jessup's own account of the future she had been working towards.

As family, friends and classmates remember Jessup, photographs shared over the years by her mother, Lisa Maxwell, offer a glimpse into her life away from the public eye. Below are five photos from Maxwell's Instagram account showing Beau at different stages of her childhood, capturing cherished moments between mother and daughter.