Jake Lloyd’s mother has spoken up about her son’s struggle with mental health, 25 years after Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. 2024 is a big year for Star Wars, a celebration of the prequel trilogy’s 25th anniversary. But one face has been notably absent among the cast of the prequel trilogy; Jake Lloyd, who played the young Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Now, his mother Lisa Lloyd has revealed the full story of her son’s struggle with mental illness, and has debunked longstanding rumors that a toxic fanbase was responsible.
“It Would Have Happened Anyway.”
Speaking to Scripps News, Lisa Lloyd explained that her son has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. “It would have happened anyway,” she insists, and explains there is a history of schizophrenia on his biological father’s side of the family. She doesn’t blame Star Wars at all, and insists the backlash against the prequels had no effect on her son. “He was just riding his bike outside, playing with his friends,” she explains, noting that she protected him from going online. There was some bullying at school, but that was about all.
According to Lisa Lloyd, the first symptoms developing during high school. Her son started talking about “realities,” and couldn’t differentiate between them. Initially diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Jake Lloyd briefly enrolled at Columbia College Chicago from 2007. “He missed a lot of classes, and he was telling me that people were following him,” Jake’s mother recalls. He left college in March 2008 to live with his mother, and was eventually diagnosed with “paranoid schizophrenia.”
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“He Didn’t Think He Needed To Take Medication Because He Wasn’t Sick.”
As Scripps News note, the American Psychiatric Association now use the simple umbrella term “schizophrenia.” Popularized through the movie A Beautiful Mind, symptoms of schizophrenia include delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech and lack of motivation. Tragically, schizophrenia also means many patients remain unaware of their symptoms; this led to Jake sometimes quitting his medication, or self-medicating. In 2015, he was arrested after a multi-county car chase with the police. Jake would spend 10 months in prison, without access to his medication.
“There Was A Lot Of Yelling & Screaming”
Jake Lloyd’s story is truly heartbreaking, building up to what his mother calls a “psychotic break” in 2023. Her son simply turned his car off in the middle of three lanes of traffic, and she describes “a lot of yelling and screaming“; the police rushed to the scene. “The police got there, and they asked Jake some questions,” Lisa Lloyd recalls. “He was talking to them, but none of it made sense. It was all word salad.” Jake was admitted to hospital, and transferred to a mental health rehabilitation facility a couple of months later.
“He’s Doing Much Better Than I Expected.”
Jake Lloyd’s story feels like a tragic one, but Lisa Lloyd’s interview ends on an optimistic note. According to his mother, he’s doing much better than she expected, and her son is able to socialize and even watch movies again; he previously lacked the concentration. “He loves all the new Star Wars stuff,” Lisa observes, and reveals he has recently been watching the Ahsoka Disney+ TV show. She even gave him an action figure of Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker’s Jedi Padawan, as a birthday present.
Hopefully the positive signs will continue. Recent Star Wars TV shows have returned to the prequel era, with many actors from the prequels returning; Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen both reprized their roles as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker over the last couple of years. Even Jar Jar Binks actor Ahmed Best is back, playing Jedi Master Kelleran Beq in flashbacks in The Mandalorian season 3. The prequels’ reputation has improved with the years, and the fanbase now looks back on Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace with a great deal of fondness.
Jake Lloyd was protected from the initial backlash against Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. 25 years later, the young viewers who first watched him on the screen have grown up, and his performance has come to be loved. The entire fanbase will stand united in wishing him the best.
