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Beau Jessup, the 27-year-old daughter of British actress and former Loose Women panellist Lisa Maxwell, has died while studying for a master’s degree in journalism at Columbia University in New York. Columbia Journalism School announced her death on Monday 9 November 2026, and the news reached a wider audience this week as tributes arrived from her mother’s former Loose Women colleagues. No cause of death has been made public.
Beau was the only child of Maxwell and her husband, businessman Paul Jessup, and she had been due to graduate from Columbia in May 2027. She first became known as a teenager for Special Name, a website that helped parents in China choose English names for their babies, and she later turned her attention to journalism.
Beau Jessup — Quick Reference Profile
| Full name | Beau Rose Jessup |
| Date of birth | 11 October 1999 |
| Age | 27 |
| Birthplace | Not publicly verified (grew up in Gloucestershire, England) |
| Nationality | British |
| Primary role | Entrepreneur and journalism student |
| Famous anchor | Lisa Maxwell (mother) |
| Net worth | Not publicly verified |
| Height | Not publicly verified |
| Family | Mother Lisa Maxwell; father Paul Jessup; only child |
| Education | London School of Economics; University of Cambridge; Columbia Journalism School |
| Social handles | Not publicly verified |
A Gloucestershire Childhood With a Famous Mother
Beau grew up in Gloucestershire as the only child of Lisa Maxwell and Paul Jessup. Her mother was already a familiar face on British television, playing Detective Inspector Samantha Nixon in The Bill from 2002 to 2009 and sitting on the Loose Women panel from 2009 to 2014.
Lisa Maxwell was born in Elephant and Castle, London, on 24 November 1963, and she married Paul Jessup in 2014 after the couple had been together since 1997. Beau was born in 1999, years before her parents married, and the family kept a relatively private life outside London.
Special Name and the Teenage Business That Travelled the World
The idea for Special Name came during a family trip to China in 2015, when Beau was 15. A family friend asked her to suggest an English name for a young child, and Beau offered Eliza, after Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady.
Back home, she borrowed £1,500 from her father to build a website where parents chose their baby’s sex and five of twelve personality traits, and the site suggested three English names with meanings and famous namesakes. Families shared the shortlist on WeChat before choosing a final name.
The BBC reported in September 2016 that the site had already suggested names for more than 200,000 babies and earned Beau about £48,000. She spoke about the venture in a 2017 TEDx talk in Brighton and appeared on BBC One’s The One Show alongside Sir Richard Branson.
By March 2019, CNBC reported that the site’s counter had passed 670,000 names and that Beau was funding her university studies through the business. In 2026 she said the site had helped name around a million babies, a figure that comes from her own accounts rather than an independent audit.
From Business Founder to Columbia Journalism Student
Beau studied at the London School of Economics and then Writing for Performance at the University of Cambridge before moving to New York for a master’s degree at Columbia Journalism School. She was part of the class due to graduate in May 2027.
In the week before her death, she gave an interview to Columbia News about her early business and her interest in storytelling, and the university shared it publicly with her family’s permission. She told the university paper that growing up as the daughter of a television actress had shaped how she thought about the distance between people’s lives and the stories told about them.
Her mother had shared a photograph of Beau with her Columbia class of 2027 on X in September 2026, writing that she was proud of her daughter in New York.
Growing Up as Lisa Maxwell’s Only Daughter
Beau was Lisa Maxwell’s only child, and the actress has spoken over the years about how much her daughter meant to her. Maxwell’s Loose Women co-stars, including Kaye Adams, paid tribute on behalf of the panel after the death was announced, and Hello! reported that her colleagues were heartbroken by the news.
Beau lived much of her early life away from the cameras, and her public profile came from her own business rather than her mother’s fame. Other children of famous families have drawn attention for their own choices too, from Jemima Goldsmith to Yvonne McGuinness, the artist wife of Cillian Murphy, and Beau’s story belongs in that same company: a life defined by what she built herself.
What Special Name Earned and What Remains Unverified
The business figures reported over the years are the only public numbers attached to Beau’s finances. The BBC put her earnings at about £48,000 by September 2016, and CNBC reported revenue of more than £300,000 by March 2019, figures that came from Beau and her company rather than an independent audit.
Her personal net worth has never been published, and this article does not estimate one. No public record gives her height or her social media handles, and no cause of death has been disclosed by the university or her family.
Questions People Are Asking About Beau Jessup
FAQ 1 — Who was Beau Jessup? Beau Jessup was the 27-year-old daughter of actress Lisa Maxwell and businessman Paul Jessup, an entrepreneur who founded Special Name as a teenager and a journalism student at Columbia University.
FAQ 2 — How did Beau Jessup die? Her death was announced by Columbia Journalism School on 9 November 2026. No cause of death has been made public by the university or her family.
FAQ 3 — What was Special Name? Special Name was a website Beau founded as a teenager that suggested English names for babies in China, based on personality traits chosen by the parents.
FAQ 4 — What did Beau Jessup study? She studied at the London School of Economics and the University of Cambridge, then moved to New York for a master’s degree in journalism at Columbia, where she was due to graduate in May 2027.
FAQ 5 — Who are Beau Jessup’s parents? Her mother is Lisa Maxwell, the actress known for The Bill and Loose Women, and her father is Paul Jessup, her husband since 2014. Beau was their only child.
Setting the Record Straight
Myth 1 — Beau named every baby herself. Reality: Special Name used a database of about 4,000 names matched to traits chosen by parents, and families picked from three suggestions. Beau built the system; she did not choose each name by hand.
Myth 2 — A cause of death has been confirmed. Reality: Columbia Journalism School and her family have not disclosed one, and reputable reports do not speculate about it.
Myth 3 — Beau was a television celebrity like her mother. Reality: Her public profile came from her own business and her journalism studies, not from acting or presenting.
