Beau Jessup, the daughter of former Loose Women star Lisa Maxwell, has died at the age of 27, her university has confirmed.

Jessup was a student at Colombia Journalism School in New York City where she was studying for a master’s degree.

A statement from the university said: “Columbia Journalism School mourns the loss of Beau Jessup, a student in our M.S. programme.

“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.”

Jessup said that being the daughter of Maxwell, also known for starring as Detective Inspector Samantha Nixon in The Bill, had influenced her interest in pursuing a media career.

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.

“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.”

When Jessup was 16, she created a website called SpecialName, which helped Chinese parents choose an English name for their children, and which led to her giving a TEDx talk on the site.

Before moving to New York, Jessup studied social anthropology at the London School of Economics and writing for performance at the University of Cambridge.

Maxwell starred in The Bill from 2002 to 2009 and also presented children’s programmes including Splash! On ITV.

She was a panellist on Loose Women from 2009 to 2014.