ITV Loose Women star’s daughter Beau Jessup, 27, dies as tributes pour in

The Ivy League institution confirmed her passing in a statement shared on social media on Wednesday.

However, it provided no details regarding the cause or circumstances of her death.

“Columbia Journalism School mourns the loss of Beau Jessup, a student in our M.S. program,” the university said. “We extend our deepest condolences to her family, friends, classmates and all who knew and loved her.”

The school added that it was working with Ms Jessup’s family to provide support during this period.

Neither Ms Maxwell nor Ms Jessup’s father, Paul Jessup, has publicly commented on the tragedy.

Ms Maxwell, 63, is best recognised for her seven-year portrayal of DI Samantha Nixon in the long-running police drama The Bill, as well as her tenure as a panellist on ITV’s Loose Women.

The actress also came close to breaking through in the United States, having originally been cast as Daphne Moon in Frasier before being replaced by Jane Leeves.

She additionally appeared on The Benny Hill Show earlier in her career.

Ms Maxwell married Mr Jessup in July 2014, after proposing to him on a leap day. The couple welcomed Ms Jessop in October 1999.

Mr Jessup runs his own toy company specialising in teddy bears. The family has not yet spoken publicly about their loss.

Before relocating to the United States for her postgraduate studies, Ms Jessop had built an impressive academic record at two of Britain’s most prestigious universities.

She completed a degree in social anthropology at the London School of Economics, followed by a course in writing for performance at the University of Cambridge, where she penned her first play, The Sandbag.

Ms Jessup enrolled in Columbia Journalism School’s master’s programme and was photographed alongside her classmates for the Class of 2027 intake in September.

Ms Maxwell shared the image on her X account at the time, writing: “Congratulations guys! Especially my daughter Beau over in NYC making us all super proud.”

With just six months remaining on her course, Ms Jessup had been expected to graduate in May 2027.

Columbia published a previously unreleased interview with Ms Jessup shortly after announcing her death, conducted as part of the school’s “Notebook” series.

In it, she reflected candidly on how her upbringing shaped her desire to become a journalist. She 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.”

Ms Jessup described herself as drawn to cultural journalism and the ways institutions, identity and social expectations shape how people live and understand one another.