Mother of Jake Lloyd says he's doing well, Star Wars backlash didn't affect him
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
peter1221 — 1 year ago(April 19, 2024 03:36 PM)
https://variety.com/2024/film/news/jake-lloyd-psychotic-break-star-wars-child-actor-updates-1235940567/
Ahead of the 25th anniversary of “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace,” the mother of Anakin Skywalker actor Jake Lloyd spoke to Scripps News about her son’s mental health struggles over the years and how he finally seems to be a better place. Jake was only 8 years old when George Lucas cast him as a young Anakin in “The Phantom Menace,” but he did not stick with acting in the years that followed. Jake’s mother, Lisa, denies that her son’s decision to quit the profession had anything to do with “The Phantom Menace” being the subject of intense backlash from “Star Wars” fans at the time.
“It would have happened anyway,” Lisa said, pointing to Jake being diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2008. “I believe that it was genetic. And his psychiatrist also agrees that Jake was going to become schizophrenic.”
“I protected him from the [‘Star Wars’] backlash,” she added. “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.”
“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. And we were going through a divorce,” she continued. “Things were unsettled and kind of rough. And Jake didn’t seem to be having a lot of fun auditioning anymore. Jake loved filming ‘Star Wars.’ He had so much fun. 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. So we’ll see.”