It has been 25 years since Jake Lloyd charmed everyone with his cute smile and great acting skills as the young Anakin Skywalker in the 1999 Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. As the movie celebrates its silver anniversary this year, the franchise has released interviews of its main characters, visibly excluding the former child actor. As many wonder where Jake is today, his mother, Lisa Lloyd, has revealed her son’s personal saga after being a part of the galaxy far, far away.
In an interview with Scripps News, Lisa detailed how Jake had been after appearing in The Phantom Menace. After the said movie, the now 35-year-old mostly lent his voice to the Star Wars-inspired video games, being the last in the 2002 Star Wars: Racer Revenge as the young Anakin. He also made an appearance as Mike McCormick in the 2001 movie Madison.
Since then, Jake has been out of the spotlight without his fans knowing he’s fighting his own personal struggles. Lisa recalled that she first noticed her son’s personality changing in high school, not knowing what “reality” he was in. As she took him to see a doctor, they learned that he had bipolar disorder and tried different medications. Sadly, nothing worked.
However, he still managed to graduate from high school in 2007 and attended Columbia College in Chicago but to no avail. His symptoms got worse, and he started seeing people that weren’t there and hearing voices. Things even went a downward spiral when he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.
“When they finally told him, it totally threw him off into an even worse depression,” she said. “It was really hard.”
Fortunately, after an arrest that ended him being locked up and a full-blown psychotic break following the demise of his sister, Madison, who also appeared in The Phantom Menace as an extra, Jake was admitted to a hospital and transferred to an inpatient program at a mental health rehabilitation facility. Now, he’s in 10 months of his 18-month stay and showing remarkable improvements, thanks to a series of therapies and treatments.
Jake Lloyd Still Loves Star Wars
Despite suffering bullying because of his role as Anakin in The Phantom Menace, Lisa revealed that Jake still loves Star Wars. He has been watching Star Wars: Ahsoka on Disney+, wearing Star Wars shirts, and sometimes getting recognized. And as he recently celebrated his 35th birthday, Lisa gave her son an action figure of Ahsoka Tano as a present.
“He loves all the new Star Wars stuff,” she said. “People think Jake hates Star Wars. He loves it.”
Lisa cleared that his mental health struggles had nothing to do with his role or the negative reviews the movie received, revealing it was genetic. He also left the franchise due to the family’s personal problems. So, would he return to do another Star Wars film or series? Though Lisa revealed it wasn’t in the cards, he would like to see Jake get better and do “a little bit of something.”
Fans will again see Jake as the young Anakin as The Phantom Menace will return to the big screen on May 3 to celebrate the May the 4th holiday and the movie’s 25th anniversary. Hopefully, Jake will continuously improve and be part of the franchise again.
