Beau Jessup, the daughter of British actress Lisa Maxwell, has died suddenly at the age of 27 while studying at Columbia University in New York City, Page Six reported.
The Ivy League institution announced the unexpected death of the master of science journalism student on Wednesday through Instagram.
Columbia University did not disclose a cause of death for Jessup, who was six months shy of graduating with her master’s degree in May 2027, according to Page Six.
Born in October 1999 to Maxwell and her husband, Paul Jessup, Beau Jessup previously made headlines in 2016 by launching her SpecialName website, which helped Chinese parents choose English names for their children and earned more than $60,000, Page Six reported.
Alongside the announcement of her death, Columbia University published an unreleased interview conducted last month as part of its “Notebook” series, as reported by Page Six.
In the interview, Jessup discussed her path to cultural journalism, noting that her interest in reporting developed during her studies of social anthropology at the London School of Economics and writing for performance at the University of Cambridge.
She also reflected on growing up in a household with a famous parent, explaining her unique perspective on media narratives.
“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,” Jessup said.
“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 added, as reported by Page Six.
The university released a statement expressing sorrow over the loss.
“We extend our deepest condolences to her family, friends, classmates and all who knew and loved her,” the school wrote on Instagram, according to Page Six.
Maxwell and her husband have not yet spoken out publicly regarding the tragedy, Page Six reported.
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