Ideally, Jake Lloyd, who played young Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, would have been granted privacy when news of his schizophrenia diagnosis first hit, but because of his starring role in one of the biggest franchises of all time, he didn’t get it.
When news came in 2015 that Jake had been involved in an altercation with his mother, the reaction of Star Wars fandom—and the media in general—was tasteless at best. “[Jake’s mother] said the 26-year-old showed up and yelled at her, saying she ruined his life. Here’s where it’s not appropriate to make a George Lucas joke,” quipped the Mercury News at the time.
The ableist “jokes” flared up once more when Jake was admitted to the hospital in 2016. Salon wrote at the time, “Leave Jake Lloyd alone: We need compassion for mental illness, not snark,” and called out the awful comments that had been left on social media. As Star Wars fans mocked and memed, Jake’s family was left to navigate his healthcare with seemingly little help. That’s one of the things Jake’s mother spoke about, with Jake’s permission, to the website Scripps News.
Lloyd’s mother, Lisa, is speaking out
Lisa Lloyd told the outlet that after her son’s arrest, she tried to get him a place in hospital right away but was told there were no beds. He had to remain in jail. “As a mom, you’re just pulling your hair out because your child needs help. You know that he’s sick. You know that he’s not going to get any better unless he gets some medication,” she said.
However, even with the medication, Jake was struggling, as anosognosia (a condition where an unwell person cannot recognize anything being wrong with them) caused him to neglect it. And unfortunately in 2018, the family was dealt a terrible blow: Jake’s sister Madison passed away in her sleep at the age of just 26.
“[Jake] just couldn’t handle it. He didn’t know how to process it,” Lisa told the website. “Sometimes he would just start saying that he really missed Madison. That’s about as much of a conversation as we’d have about it.”
In March 2023, Jake was struggling again and was sent to a hospital instead of jail. (This should, of course, be the standard for helping people with schizophrenia.) After that, he was moved to an inpatient program, and he’s now been there for ten months.
Jake Lloyd’s health is improving
According to Lisa, Jake’s mental health has gotten better since starting new treatment. “He’s doing much better than I expected,” she said. “He is relating to people better and becoming a little bit more social, which is really nice. It’s kind of like having more of the old Jake back, because he has always been incredibly social until he became schizophrenic.”
She also shared that Jake was still interested in Star Wars. Despite reports to the contrary, Jake had never been directly affected by the harsh reaction to The Phantom Menace:
“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.”
Lisa keeping her young son away from the internet was absolutely the right choice, because Star Wars fandom is noted for being particularly toxic. One of Lloyd’s co-stars in the movie was Ahmed Best, who played Jar Jar Binks, and in his case, the hatred was so intense that he actually contemplated suicide. In more recent years, there’s been cruel racism aimed at John Boyega, Kelly Marie Tran, and Moses Ingram.
Will Jake Lloyd ever be involved with Star Wars again?
Jake has seen the Disney+ Star Wars show Ahsoka, Lisa told Scripps News, and she bought him an action figure of the character for his birthday. But he probably won’t be participating in fandom for a while yet.
“Jake loved filming Star Wars. He had so much fun,” Lisa said. “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.”
If Jake Lloyd ever does make it in front of Star Wars fans again, he deserves a standing ovation—and an apology from certain quarters of the fandom.
(featured image: Lucasfilm)
Published: Mar 12, 2024 02:44 pm