Jake Lloyd’s Mom Clears the Air

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Jake Lloyd’s mother, Lisa, recently spoke with Scripps News about her son’s mental health. She discusses how Lloyd, who played Anakin Skywalker in The Phantom Menace, is doing now, the tragic loss of his sister, Madison, and how he feels about Star Wars these days.

“He just couldn’t handle it,” Lisa said of Jake’s sister’s passing. “He didn’t know how to process it. 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.”

Last year, Jake Lloyd and his mother were driving home from McDonald’s, and Jake suffered a psychotic break in the car.

“He said he wanted to turn the car off. And he turned the car off in the middle of the three lanes, and we were in the middle lane,” Lisa explained. “There was a lot of yelling and screaming. 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.”

But his mother also goes on to clarify that Jake is doing better these days, following treatment:

“He’s doing much better than I expected. 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.”

Lisa had this to say about Jake’s feelings on Star Wars:

“He loves all the new Star Wars stuff,” she said. “People think Jake hates Star Wars. He loves it. [His mental struggles] would have happened anyway,” she said. “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,” Lisa said. “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. 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,” she explained. “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.”

“We’re in a lot better place. And we do have a lot of things to look forward to,” Lisa said. “We all love Jake, and we want to be around him. I just want him to be happy.”

Well, this is bittersweet to hear. Of course, it’s wonderful that he’s doing better. I had always heard Lloyd quit acting and suffered tremendously because of his role in the prequels. But I never knew that much about it; that just seemed to be the consensus. It’s obviously good that he was protected from the backlash, although it didn’t save him from these genetic issues. I’m not entirely shocked to hear this from his mom, although I did think his troubles were thanks to crazy Star Wars fans. I have to disagree with Jake about modern Star Wars content, though.

What do you think about Lisa’s comments, Jake Lloyd, Star Wars, or anything else? Let us know in the comments!