TIL Jake Lloyd Quit Acting at 12 Due to Bullying, Destroyed his Star Wars Items, and Was Later Diagnosed with Schizophrenia

In 1999, Jake Lloyd appeared as Anakin Skywalker in The Phantom Menace. Lloyd portrayed Anakin as a young boy facing adversity and rising to become a Jedi.

After facing his own struggles in school, Lloyd left acting and was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. 

These tragic developments run somewhat parallel to Anakin’s troubled character arc but take on much more serious dimensions. Read on to find out more. 

Anakin and The Phantom Menace

It has been 25 years since The Phantom Menace was released. This movie may be best remembered for starring actors Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, and Natalie Portman, but Jake Lloyd was crucial to the film in the role of Anakin Skywalker. 

In the movie, after Neeson’s Qui-Gon Jinn discovers Lloyd’s Anakin, we witness the exciting podrace that wins Anakin’s freedom from enslavement under the Toydarian Watto.

This scene captures the final lap when Anakin outmaneuvered and beat Watto’s racer Sebulba.

Tenacious and resourceful, young Anakin prevailed, despite podracer troubles and Sebulba’s treacherous moves against him. 

Anakin’s best lines from the first prequel include his initial exchange with Qui-Gon Jinn. Anakin said: “I saw your laser sword. Only Jedi carry that kind of weapon.”

To which, Qui-Gon replies, “Perhaps I killed a Jedi and took it from him.” Anakin responds, “I don’t think so. No one can kill a Jedi.” Anakin was hopeful despite the challenges he had already faced. 

In this interview before The Phantom Menace’s release, actor Jake Lloyd indicated that “it was going to be a very good film” and “for the entire family.”

He also commented on how novel it was that this new 1999 movie was rated PG. In addition, Lloyd indicated how “amazing” the podrace scene was and how “cool” it was to get his own lightsaber as Jedi.

Lloyd gave voice to some of the positive aspects of the film. Unfortunately, both Anakin and Lloyd’s lives took more decidedly negative turns. 

Anakin and Lloyd’s Tragedies

We are familiar with Anakin’s tragic descent into the dark side across the first three prequels. Anakin’s full turn to Darth Vader from Revenge of the Sith to A New Hope could even fit into the tragedy genre. So too was Anakin’s life before these turn of events. 

As commented on here, “Anakin was the most tragic character” with his experiences “characterized by trauma and pain.”

We can see this pain and trauma in how Anakin was born into slavery, was beaten by Watto, and “experienced things before the age of 9 no child should ever experience.”

In a parallel manner, we may draw a similar conclusion for Jake Lloyd but with more serious implications. 

At age eight, Lloyd took on the role of Anakin. He was selected from over 3,000 other actors for the part but receded from the spotlight after the movie’s release because of personal struggles.

Speculation circulated that negative responses to the movie played a role in Lloyd’s mental decline.

According to a recent interview with Jake’s mother Lisa Lloyd, the child actor started to have “some trouble in high school” when Jake “started talking about ‘realities’” and how he was not sure “if he was in this reality.”

After seeing a doctor, Jake was thought to have bipolar disorder, but his treatment did not improve his symptoms. 

Jake then struggled with a brief college enrollment and came back to live with his mother. Additional psychiatric appointments, Jake Lloyd was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, which led to depression.

In addition, Lloyd was diagnosed with anosognosia, a condition in which patients are not aware of their symptoms. 

After an incident in 2023 when Lloyd turned off his car in the middle of the street, he was admitted into a mental health rehabilitation center.

Lloyd’s psychological struggles trace back to high school and “a history of schizophrenia on his father’s side.” Beyond these challenges, he also confronted bullying at school over his role in The Phantom Menace. 

Star Wars fans have weighed in on this topic and expressed rightful concern over bullying. One post even commented on witnessing some of this deplorable behavior.

Another commentator said how this “toxic environment” could impact a person’s “underlying mental disorder.” These comments reflect sympathy for Jake Lloyd’s real-life struggles.

According to Lisa Lloyd, neither negative reactions to The Phantom Menace nor bullying at school over the film caused Jake to quit acting or influenced his mental illness.

In the above articles, she commented that Jake “loved filming ‘Star Wars’” and that his illness would still have transpired.  

Jake Lloyd’s Challenges

Lisa Lloyd is also hopeful about Jake’s improvement and moving forward with his life. This outlook may remind us of Anakin’s as a boy, seeking out the light side of the Force.

Jake Lloyd’s challenges are obviously much more important than a movie character’s but we may draw lessons and inspiration from both.