As many young actors have seen, featuring in a Star Wars movie can often be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it’s arguably the biggest franchise in cinema. But on the other, you risk becoming the target of the millions of fans who hold the property near and dear, and if you upset them, you won’t hear the end of it.
Just look at Kelly Marie Tran, who showed up as Rose Tico in Star Wars: The Last Jedi and then briefly in The Rise of Skywalker. As you’re no doubt aware of by now, a lot of people weren’t fans of her or her character and the levels of aggression and hatred leveled against the actress eventually caused her to quit social media and seek therapy.
Then there’s poor old Jar Jar Binks, with actor Ahmed Best revealing a few years ago that he’d contemplated suicide after the intense rage directed at him. Even George Lucas himself is tired of the angry Star Wars fans bashing his work, saying the following in 2012:
“Why would I make any more when everybody yells at you all the time and says what a terrible person you are?”
But then there’s Jake Lloyd, who played Anakin Skywalker in The Phantom Menace. And though the film ending up as a mess was far from his fault, he did take a lot of criticism back in the day and for years after, continued to be harassed by certain corners of the fandom. It got so bad, in fact, that he retired from acting and has next to nothing to do with the franchise anymore. But what some people don’t realize is that he also struggles with mental health.
There’d been some whispers over the years that Lloyd was dealing with schizophrenia and other issues and now, his mother has released a statement updating us on his status, saying the following:
“We would like to thank everyone for their kind words, their support, and goodwill,” the statement reads. “Jake has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, but unfortunately he also has a symptom called anosognosia which causes a lack of insight into his illness. This only adds to the struggle he faces, which has been very difficult after the tragic loss of his younger sister, Madison. He has moved closer to his family and we are all working hard to help him with this. He is still a kind and caring person and we hope to have him back to his fun and entertaining self as soon as possible. Jake will continue to make progress with the love and support you continue to show.”
Though it’s not hard to see why so many fans took issue with Lloyd’s performance in The Phantom Menace, no cinematic character should ever bring about that much hate and toxicity toward its creator/actor. Besides, he was just a kid and a lot of the fault should be placed at Lucas’ doorstep, as it was him who wrote the wooden dialogue.
When it comes to Star Wars though, the fanbase can be particularly toxic – just ask Rian Johnson – and that’s something that’s scared off a lot of talent over the years, unfortunately. But circling back to Lloyd in particular, and we wish him all the best as he continues to deal with his mental health struggles.