Remember that sweet kid who played Anakin Skywalker?

[Klaus]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jake_Lloyd

Just stumbled upon him.

In 2012, Lloyd explained that his decision to retire from acting in 2001 was due to bullying at school and harassment by the press, both in response to his role in The Phantom Menace. The experience also led him to destroy all his Star Wars memorabilia.[6][9]

In March 2015, police responded to an alleged assault by Lloyd on his mother Lisa Riley. In a statement to Indianapolis Metro Police Department, Riley alleged Lloyd arrived at her house and began verbally berating her. He then progressed to physically assaulting her, but she declined to press charges, revealing that Lloyd was diagnosed with schizophrenia and was not taking his medication at the time.[10]

On June 17, 2015, Lloyd was arrested in South Carolina under the name Jake Broadbent for reckless driving, driving without a license, and resisting arrest; he failed to stop for a red light, which initiated a high-speed police chase.[11][12][13] At a hearing on June 22, his bail was set at $10,700.[14] On June 23, Lloyd's mother stated to TMZ.com that he has schizophrenia and that "the family plans to try and get him help again [...] once he's released from jail".[10] Lloyd was not released on bail.

In April 2016, after being kept for 10 months without trial in Colleton County Detention Center, Lloyd was transferred from jail to a psychiatric facility. Schizophrenia was given as the reason.[15][16]

In January 2020, his family issued a statement saying that he has moved closer to his family, and has officially been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.

Isn't amazing how destructive it can be to be a star as a child?

[Aqua Letifer]

Chances are much higher he was going to get schizophrenia, even without the movie. It's much more hereditary than environmental.

[George K]

@Aqua-Letifer said in Remember that sweet kid who played Anakin Skywalker?:

Chances are much higher he was going to get schizophrenia, even without the movie. It's much more hereditary than environmental.

Being in the movies can make you crazy, but not crazy crazy.

[LuFins Dad]

Being a child star can be horrendously challenging, but this strikes me as just a kid that was troubled and happened to be in a movie.

I have a friend/acquaintance who grew up in it (not an actor but his mother was and his uncles and grandfather are/were producers) and he has told some amazing stories about Charlie Sheen, Carrie Fischer, et al... No doubt childhood stardom can warp you, but it seems like it's been better over the last 15-20 years or so.

[89th]

@Klaus That's a shame to read. I remember how much attention was on him back in 1999 as maybe the "next Luke Skywalker" in terms of Star Wars fame...and thinking, I wonder how he'll be able to handle all the fame. Poor fella, hope he gets the help he needs.

[Copper]

@LuFins-Dad said in Remember that sweet kid who played Anakin Skywalker?:

it seems like it's been better over the last 15-20 years or so.

I am pretty unlikely to recognize many child stars these days.

When we only had 3 networks everyone watched the same stars.

Now that we have a thousand networks the stars aren't as universally known.

[Horace]

the progression for child stars I eventually come to hear about seems to be "children's TV show regular" -> "pop music star" -> "famous enough for me to have heard of them"