The mother of Jake Lloyd, who played young Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace (1999), has spoken out about her son’s health. Shortly after the film was released, Lloyd turned his back on acting. However, fans are still interested in him.
In one Interview with Scripps News His mother Lisa Lloyd now spoke about serious diagnoses. In doing so, she also cleared up rumors from the “Star Wars” fan scene. Jake Lloyd was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia back in 2008. Before that, he reported on life in different realities, also about seeing people with black eyes and having conversations with Jon Stewart from “The Daily Show”.
In addition, his mother said, Jake Lloyd had the organic brain disorder anosognosia. This neurological condition causes people to be unaware of their own symptoms. “He thought he didn’t need any medication because he wasn’t sick,” Lisa Lloyd said. “He thought he didn’t need to go to therapy because there was nothing wrong with him.”
Jake Lloyd as young Anakin Skywalker in “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace”
The mother of the actor, who was only ten years old when his biggest film was released, also spoke about the effects of the disease. He had his first brush with the law in 2015. He is said to have complained to his mother, and there were later incidents in traffic. During this time, Jake Lloyd’s health problems became public for the first time. Instead of going to hospital, he was sent to prison for ten months. His condition further deteriorated when his sister died in 2018. He was finally admitted to a medical facility in 2023.
“Jake loves Star Wars”
Lloyd is now doing noticeably better, his mother said in the new interview. Your son can now watch films – most recently he watched “Wonka” (2023). “When he was on medication, we couldn’t watch movies. He didn’t have the attention span for it,” Lisa Lloyd said. Even if there are other rumors, Jake Lloyd is a “Star Wars” fan. “He loves all the new Star Wars stuff,” the mother clarified, saying that Jake recently watched the Disney+ series “Ahsoka.” “People think Jake hates Star Wars, but he loves it.”
Schizophrenia is genetic
Lisa Lloyd also made it clear that her son’s diagnosis had nothing to do with the negative reviews of “Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace”. “That would have happened anyway.” There were several cases of schizophrenia in the family on his father’s side. “I think it was genetic. His psychiatrist also says that Jake would have become schizophrenic sooner or later. She herself protected her son from the backlash against the film. “He was just playing outside with his friends, riding his bike. He didn’t know anything about it, he didn’t care. Everyone makes such a big deal about it. I find that annoying, Jake was just a little kid when the movie came out and he didn’t even know about all this stuff because I didn’t let him on the internet.”
Accordingly, Jake Lloyd didn’t give up acting because of the “Star Wars” film. “It had to do with our family. We got divorced at the time,” Lisa Lloyd said. Although her son will not return to the film universe, he had fun during the production period.