Jake Lloyd broke his silence with a rare video message to Star Wars fans, more than three years after the former child actor’s public psychotic break.
The 37-year-old, who played young Anakin Skywalker in 1999’s “The Phantom Menace,” appeared alongside Daniel Logan, 39, the former Boba Fett actor from 2002’s “Attack of the Clones,” in footage posted to Instagram on Wednesday. Logan captioned the clip, “A little message from Jake and [me].”
“We want to send a special message to each and every one of our Star Wars fans to let you know, ‘thank you so much,'” Logan said in the video. Lloyd nodded beside him before adding, “Very, very much so.”
“I really appreciate that time,” Lloyd added, referring to being 8 years old during the filming of George Lucas’s first prequel installment. The pair followed up Thursday with a second video showing them joking and posing together.
Logan used the posts to address decades of harassment both actors have faced since their childhood stardom. “Since [we were] kids we’ve been [subjected] to bullying from adults name calling online and in person,” he wrote in one caption. “The limelight has been hard for both of us as kids.”
He continued, “I’ve only brought positivity to this franchise and I’m trying to bring Jake back to the SW universe only [to] get backlash.” The post concluded with a stark assessment of their lasting vulnerability: “We are [subjected] to hate and negativity for the rest of our lives. They say it [comes] with the territory but an 8 year old and 13 year old have no idea what that truly means.”
Lloyd’s March 2023 breakdown occurred while his mother, Lisa Lloyd, drove him home from McDonald’s. “He said he wanted to turn the car off,” she recalled in an interview with Scripps News. “He turned the car off in the middle of the three lanes, and we were in the middle lane. There was a lot of yelling and screaming.”
The episode halted traffic and prompted bystanders to summon police. “The police got there, and they asked Jake some questions,” Lisa remembered. “He was talking to them, but none of it made sense. It was all word salad.”
Lloyd, diagnosed with schizophrenia in 2008, was hospitalized following the incident and subsequently entered an 18-month inpatient rehabilitation program. His mother noted that he had concealed his early symptoms. “He didn’t tell us he was hearing voices at the time. But he was,” she said. “When they finally told him [he was schizophrenic], it totally threw him off into an even worse depression. It was really hard.”
She observed marked improvement once he began consistent medication. “He’s doing much better than I expected,” Lisa shared during his treatment. “He is relating to people better and becoming a little bit more social, which is really nice.” She also corrected a persistent fan assumption about her son’s relationship to the franchise: “He loves all the new Star Wars stuff. People think Jake hates Star Wars. He loves it.”
The Wednesday Instagram appearance marks Lloyd’s most direct public engagement with the Star Wars community since his treatment, channeling his mother’s earlier optimism into his own words of gratitude for the fanbase that has followed him since his childhood performance.
Logan has positioned himself as Lloyd’s defender and bridge back to the franchise, though his posts make plain the emotional cost of that effort amid continuing online hostility directed at both men.
Lloyd’s message of appreciation arrives as Star Wars continues expanding across Disney Plus series and upcoming theatrical projects, with the actor’s own future participation in franchise events remaining unannounced.
