STAR WARS Mother Prequel Actor Jake Lloyd Gives Update on Actor’s Mental Health and His Feelings About the Franchise

Star Wars prequel actor Jake Lloyd played young Anakin Skywalker in the first prequel film, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Before that role, he appeared in the Christmas movie Jingle all the wayopposite to Arnold Schwarzeneggerand post-Star Warstook a leading role in the film Madisonopposite to Jim Caviezel AND Bruce Dern. The actor had a promising start, but decided to abandon acting and has had a bit of trouble since he came of age.

In a recent interview with Scripps News (via CBM), Jake’s mother, Lisa Lloyd, talked about when her son’s problems began, his current status and how she feels about Star Wars in these days. She explained that Jake began suffering from delusions and eventually dropped out of college after he started hearing voices. Jake has since been officially diagnosed with schizophrenia, although his problems have persisted (and were exacerbated when his sister Madison died of natural causes in 2018, aged just 26).

The Anakin actor sadly suffered a full-blown psychotic break last year while walking home from McDonald’s with his mother.

“He said he wanted to turn the car off. And he turned the car off in the middle of the three lanes, and we were in the middle lane. There was a lot of yelling and screaming. The police got there and they asked Jake some questions. He was talking to them, but none of it made sense. It was all word salad.”

Jake was hospitalized and is now 10 months into an 18 month mental health rehabilitation facility.

“He’s doing a lot better than I expected. He relates to people better and is becoming a bit more sociable, which is really nice. It’s a bit like having the old Jake back again, because he was always incredibly sociable until he he became schizophrenic.”

Lisa revealed that Jake liked the news Ahsoka series and who gave him an action figure of the character for his birthday.

“He loves all the new ‘Star Wars’ material. People think Jake hates ‘Star Wars’. He loves it.”

As for the widespread belief in his role The Phantom Menace caused these mental health problems, he adds:

“It would have happened anyway. I think it was genetic. And even his psychiatrist agrees that Jake would have become schizophrenic.

I protected him from the backlash. She was just riding her bike outside, playing with her friends. She didn’t know. She didn’t care. Everyone gives it importance. And it’s kind of annoying to me because Jake was a kid when he came out, and he didn’t really feel all those things because I wouldn’t let him online. People say he’s gone [acting] because of “Star Wars”. Well, that’s not true. She had nothing to do with “Star Wars.” It had more to do with our family. And we were going through a divorce. Things were unstable and quite difficult. And Jake didn’t seem to be enjoying the auditions much anymore.”

I’m so happy to hear that he’s feeling better, and we at GeekTyrant hope nothing but happiness for Jake Lloyd. It’s great to know that he’s still able to have fun Star Wars and participate in the fandom. It plays an extremely important role in the Star Wars universe and will always hold a special place in the hearts of fans.