Jake Lloydscored the role of a lifetime when he was cast as young Anakin Skywalker in 1999’sStar Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace, but he has mostly stayed out of the limelight since the release of the film. While many have believed for some time that the response to the film from a toxic fanbase was responsible for Lloyd shying away from media attention, his mother, Lisa Lloyd, has now revealed that her son suffered from various mental health issues, but she also shared an optimistic update on her son’s well-being today.
During a chat withScripps News, Lloyd’s mother revealed that her son was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Even though many believed for many years that reactions to the film and his role in it is what caused his issues, his mother insists that,“it would have happened anyway”, because there is a history of schizophrenia on his biological father’s side of the family. In fact, Lisa doesn’t blame the long-running franchise for any of her son’s problems, going on to say,“He was just riding his bike outside, playing with his friends,“during most of theStar Warshoopla.
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
His mother reveals that the first signs of his schizophrenia began surfacing in high school with her son speaking of"realities"and not being able to differentiate between them. He was first diagnosed with bipolar disorder and even went on to enroll briefly at Columbia College Chicago in 2007. By 2008, Lloyd left college to live with his mother after, according to Lisa,“He missed a lot of classes, and he was telling me that people were following him.“After his short time in college, he was ultimately diagnosed properly with"paranoid schizophrenia.”
“Jake started having some trouble in high school,” Lisa said, recalling the time she first noticed her son’s personality changing. “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.
And he was like, ‘Well, I don’t even know if I need to do it. I don’t know which reality I’m in,’” she said. “And I’m like, ‘Well, you’re in my reality today, so you have to do your homework.’”
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Lloyd went through several struggles that many with a mental illness face, particularly when they don’t want to take their medication. In his case, the former actor would sometimes be unaware of his symptoms and he would stop taking his medication or even begin self-medicating with other substances. In 2015, Lloyd was arrested following a multi-county car chase with police which resulted in a 10-month stint in prison without the necessary access to his medication.
This all culminated into what his mother calls a"psychotic break"in 2023 with Lloyd turning his car off in the middle of three lanes of traffic. After the police rushed to the scene, Lisa recalls what took place next:
“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.”
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Following the 2023 incident, Lloyd was admitted to a hospital and later transferred to a mental health rehabilitation facility. Thankfully, the current state of his story seems to be in a more optimistic place. His mother indicates that he’s doing much better than anticipated, and he’s able to socialize and watch movies again. This used to prove difficult because he didn’t have the concentration to do so, but his mother says,“He loves all the new Star Wars stuff"and even revealed that they were recently watching the newStar WarsDisney+ series,Ahsoka.
“He loves all the new ‘Star Wars’ stuff. People think Jake hates ‘Star Wars.’ He loves it.
People say he quit because of ‘Star Wars.’ Well, that’s not true. It didn’t have anything to do with ‘Star Wars.’ It had more to do with our family. And we were going through a divorce. Things were unsettled and kind of rough. And Jake didn’t seem to be having a lot of fun auditioning anymore.”
Asked if she sees her son ever starring inaStar Warsprojectone day, Lisa said he had “so much fun” making the prequel and “you never know” what the future may bring.
“Jake loved filming ‘Star Wars.’ 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.”
Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menaceis set for its 25th anniversary in May and with the prequels being reevaluated more positively in recent years, here’s hoping that Jake Lloyd sees some of the love from fans as the film achieves this significant milestone.
