Sudden death of 27-year-old daughter of British actress Lisa Maxwell in New York. Columbia University issues statement

Columbia School of Journalism issued a statement on the sudden death of Beau Jessup, daughter of British actor Lisa Maxwell.

Beau Jessup, the 27-year-old daughter of British actress Lisa Maxwell, has died unexpectedly while pursuing a master's degree in journalism at Columbia University in New York. While no other details of her death have been disclosed, the sudden passing of Jessup was confirmed by a statement from the university. "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," Columbia Journalism School where she was studying master's, said in the statement. She was expected to graduate in May 2027. Before moving to New York, Jessup studied social anthropology at the London School of Economics and writing for performance at the University of Cambridge. During her time at Cambridge, she wrote a play titled 'The Sandbag'. She had also made a name for herself as a young entrepreneur. In 2016, when she was a teenager, Jessup founded SpecialName, a website that helped Chinese parents choose English names for their children. The service reportedly helped more than 250,000 children and earned her approximately £48,000. Jessup had spoken about how growing up with a famous mother influenced her interest in journalism. She said her upbringing made her curious about who gets to tell people's stories and how those stories can sometimes be distorted in the public eye. She hoped to pursue reporting on people, culture and social issues while continuing to write for theatre. The Dean of Columbia Journalism School, Jelani Cobb, also sent an email to the students and acknowledged how "painful it is to receive messages like this one." "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," he wrote, calling Beau a "cherished member" of the community.

Beau gave an interview with Columbia in the week before her death, and they shared it publicly with permission from her family. "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 said in that interview. "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."