Jake Lloyd speaks out for first time in years to share how his life is after Star Wars
Jake Lloyd famously played a young Anakin Skywalker in The Phantom Menace
Star Wars' Jake Lloyd has issued an update on his life in a rare interview.
Lloyd first made a name for himself as a child actor when he was cast in 1997 at the age of eight by George Lucas to play a young Anakin Skywalker in 1999's Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace.
However, fame was not all it cracked up to be for Lloyd, who'd previously starred in Jingle All The Way with Arnold Schwarzneggar, as he ended up on the receiving end of a lot of ridicule.
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The now 35-year-old told Blackbook in 2012: "Other children were really mean to me. They would make the sound of the lightsaber every time they saw me. It was totally mad. My entire school life was really a living hell."
As well as this, he also had to do '60 interviews a day', adding: "I've learned to hate it when the cameras are pointed at me."
This led him to leave the entertainment business altogether, with his final film being Madison in 2001.
Since then, his life certainly hasn't been easy as Lloyd was arrested in South Carolina for reckless driving, driving without a license and resisting arrest in June 2015.
He was imprisoned until April 2016, before being moved to a psychiatric facility, and last year, his mother, Lisa Lloyd gave a rare insight into her son's life, revealing he'd been diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2008, but was doing 'much better' than she expected.
Now, Lloyd himself has spoken out for the first time in years to share how his life has been going.
The former actor spoke to writer Clayton Sandell for an interview on his blog on Substack, and when asked how he was doing, he replied: “Pretty good, considering these 20 years of time that have come to an end.
"I can now accept taking on continued treatment, and therapy, and my meds. Everyone's been very supportive.”
Lloyd's mother later clarified to Sandell that it hasn't been 20 years since his official diagnosis, PEOPLE reports.
In his last conversation with Lisa a few weeks prior, Sandell says that Lloyd had completed an 18-month stay at an inpatient mental health facility in Southern California, and as 2025 came around, he is now at a new rehabilitation centre where he's receiving treatment but is more or less 'free to come and go as he pleases'.
His mother also said that Lloyd is doing well having seemingly come to terms with his diagnosis, which, according to Sandell, is called 'anosognosia', a neurological condition that National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) says can make someone have a 'lack of awareness' about their condition.
Looking back on the time he describes as 'rock bottom', Lloyd said it needed to happen so he could 'honestly take part in treatment, honestly take your meds, and honestly live with your diagnosis'.
“I don’t have the time for feeling volatile,” Lloyd says, adding that his medication acts 'very much' like 'a cushion'.
And despite the negative reception he'd previously received, he is still a Star Wars fan.
He continued to say that the interactions he's had with Star Wars fans at conventions is 'immediately therapeutic'.
“Right now, it's still therapeutic. It's helpful for people and healthy. It isn't something I'd shy away from.” he said, adding that he's 'very appreciative'.
Topics: Mental Health, Star Wars, Celebrity
Joe Yates