NEED TO KNOW
- Beau Jessup, daughter of British actress Lisa Maxwell, has died at age 27
- “We extend our deepest condolences to her family, friends, classmates, and all who knew and loved her,” the Columbia Journalism School wrote in a statement
- Jessup was a student at Columbia Journalism School and was expected to graduate in May 2027
Beau Jessup, the daughter of British actress and TV host Lisa Maxwell, has died at age 27.
The Columbia Journalism School, where Jessup was a student, announced news of her death in a statement shared on its website on Monday, Nov. 9.
“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 other details surrounding her death have been released.
Jessup was expected to graduate from Columbia Journalism School with a master’s degree in journalism in May 2027. Along with the statement, Columbia Journalism School shared an interview with Jessup conducted in October.
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“Last month, Columbia News reached out to Jessup as part of the Notebook series, which highlights some of the many fascinating students who study at the University,” the statement read. “With permission from her family and encouragement from leaders and her peers at the J-School, Columbia News decided to publish this insightful discussion in memory of her far-too-brief life and experience at Columbia and in New York City.”
In her interview, Jessup opened up about her time at Columbia Journalism School, her favorite pastimes and her plans post-graduation. On why she chose to study journalism, Jessup said, “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 continued. “I was curious, from quite a young age, about who gets to tell people’s stories.”
Speaking of her plans for the future, Jessup said she hoped to work as a journalist, report on people and culture, and ask “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 theater when a subject benefits from being explored through a different form,” she said.
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Jessup noted that she received a Master’s in Writing for Performance from the University of Cambridge and wrote her first play, The Sandbag, “which interrogates how family, memory, the body, and inherited narratives shape the stories we tell about ourselves.”
Born in October 1999, Jessup was the daughter of Maxwell, 62, and Paul Jessup.
Speaking to PEOPLE in 2008, The Bill actress Maxwell, who is a former panelist on the U.K. talk show Loose Women, opened up about motherhood and watching Beau grow up. “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.”
“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.”
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