Mother of Jake Lloyd Says the Former Anakin Skywalker Still Loves Star Wars
While Hayden Christensen has become synonymous with Anakin Skywalker, he was not the first actor to play the iconic character in the Star Wars prequel trilogy.
That distinction instead falls to Jake Lloyd, who portrayed a young Anakin in Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace.
Image: Lucasfilm
At the time that he was thrown into the Star Wars limelight, Lloyd was only 10 years old. Unfortunately, the young actor was caught in the crossfire after The Phantom Menace received largely negative reactions from fans. Since the film’s release, Llyod has largely kept out of the spotlight.
Lloyd’s Struggles Were Not Related to Star Wars
Even out of the limelight, Lloyd has struggled since his Star Wars run. The actor has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and has struggled with his mental health for years.
In a recent interview with Scripp News, Lloyd’s mother, Lisa, insisted that her son’s involvement with Star Wars and the fame that came along with it had nothing to do with his mental health.
Photo: Lucasfilm
“It would have happened anyway,” she explained, noting that his father’s side of the family has a history of the condition.
“Jake started having some trouble in high school,” Lisa told Scripps News. “He started talking about ‘realities.’ He didn’t know if he was in this reality or a different reality. I didn’t really know exactly what to say to that.”
Photo: Yahoo
Lloyd began acting at the age of seven, eventually playing the role of Jimmy Sweet in four episodes of the medical drama ER.
The young child, however, was not aware of just how extraordinary his life was, and he also did not fully understand the toxic conversation surrounding the prequel trilogy.
Photo: Toronto Sun
“I protected him from the backlash. He was just riding his bike outside, playing with his friends. He didn’t know. And he didn’t care,” Lisa said. “Everybody makes such a big deal about that. And it’s rather annoying to me because Jake was a little kid when that came out, and he didn’t really feel all that stuff because I didn’t let him online.”
The Trouble Begins
After graduating high school, Lloyd was set to attend Columbia College Chicago in 2007 but was unable to complete his education. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the time.
“He missed a lot of classes, and he was telling me that people were following him,” Lisa said.
Photo: Yahoo
According to his mother, Jake would sometimes self-medicate with illegal drugs or quit taking his medication. Things came to a head in 2015 after he took a solo trip from Florida to Canada. He eventually led police on a multi-county chase before crashing his car.
Lisa tried to have Jake taken to a hospital, but when she was told there were no beds available, he was forced to spend 10 months in prison.
Last year, Llyod suffered a “full-blown psychotic break” after he wanted to turn his car off on the highway. He was taken to a hospital and eventually checked into a mental health rehabilitation facility. He is currently 10 months into an 18-month stay.
Photo: Daily Beast
“He’s doing much better than I expected,” Lisa said. “He is relating to people better and becoming a little bit more social, which is really nice. It’s kind of like having more of the old Jake back because he has always been incredibly social until he became schizophrenic.”
Lloyd Still Loves Star Wars
With the Phantom Menace celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, interest in Lloyd’s story has increased. According to Lisa, Jake is still a fan of the franchise and has even watched Ahsoka.
“He loves all the new Star Wars stuff. People think Jake hates Star Wars. He loves it,” she said.
Photo: Lucasfilm
“Jake loved filming. He had so much fun. I would love for him to get well enough to be able to do a little bit of something, and I’m sure he would maybe like to do that. He couldn’t at this point, but you never know how much he’s going to improve. So we’ll see.”
