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Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Actor Jake Lloyd's Mother Opens Up About His Mental Health Issue; All You Need To Know
In an interview, Lisa who happens to be Jake Lloyd's mother dismissed rumors suggesting that negative backlash caused her son mental health issues and he was bound to quit acting.
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Jake Lloyd left Hollywood after suffering from severe mental health issues
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Jake was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and paranoid schizophrenia
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Jake is now approximately 10 months into an 18-month program at a mental health rehab
Mental health problems amongst kids, teenagers, and young adults are increasing day by day, and one such story is that of Jake Lloyd, who, after bagging the role of Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace among 3,000 kids, left Hollywood.
Rumors suggested fan backlash affected his mental health, but his mother, Lisa, dismissed them, clarifying the real reason for his departure from the entertainment industry on Scripps News. She dismissed rumors suggesting that negative backlash caused her son's mental health issues and decision to quit acting.
"It would have happened anyway. I believe that it was genetic. And his psychiatrist also agrees that Jake was going to become schizophrenic. I protected him from the backlash. He was just riding his bike outside, playing with his friends. He didn't know. He didn't care. 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," she said. Let's take a minute and explore more details about what went wrong with Jake Lloyd.
What happened to Jake Lloyd?
Jake began facing difficulties during high school, Lisa said in the interview, reflecting on when she initially observed her son's personality shift. "He began discussing 'realities,' uncertain whether he was in this reality or another. I wasn't sure how to respond to that."
She added that one day, she asked him if he’d completed his homework, and he said to her, “I don't even know if I need to do it. I don’t know which reality I’m in.”
“And I'm like, ‘Well, you're in my reality today, so you have to do your homework,’” Lisa told the then-teen.
Following a visit to a doctor, it was suggested that Jake might have bipolar disorder, she explained. Despite being prescribed multiple medications to address the problems, none appeared effective, Lisa noted.
With time, Jake completed high school in 2007 and eagerly anticipated starting fall classes at Columbia College Chicago. However, this marked the onset of significant shifts.
“He missed a lot of classes, and he was telling me that people were following him,” she shared
He would claim to see people with black eyes staring at him out in public, and that sometimes he would engage in late-night conversations with Daily Show host Jon Stewart through his television screen.
Jake Lloyd was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia
Lloyd kept visiting doctors until he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. “When they finally told him, it totally threw him off into an even worse depression,” Lisa said during the interview. “It was really hard.”
It was hard for Lisa to cope, as he refused to take his medication because he didn’t think he was sick. Furthermore, Lisa also recounted an incident from 2015 when Jake engaged in a pursuit with deputies across multiple counties before crashing his car. Despite her attempts to secure him legal representation, Jake ignored her calls.
She shared the emotional turmoil of the situation, along with another instance when he called her to claim he had been shot in his apartment. Lisa soon realized he was experiencing hallucinations.
Where is Jake currently?
Lisa mentioned that Jake is now approximately 10 months into an 18-month program at a mental health rehabilitation facility. This follows what she described as a severe psychotic episode in March 2023, during which he stopped his car in the middle of a three-lane road, prompting police intervention.
“He’s doing much better than I expected,” she said, adding that he’s “becoming a little bit more social.”
And decades later, Jake is still a fan of the franchise.
“He loves all the new Star Wars stuff,” she said. “People think Jake hates Star Wars. He loves it.”
We wish Jake a speedy recovery and hope to see him back at the movies one day. He was the reason why millions of people love to continue watching Star Wars.
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