Jake Lloyd Blames ‘Stolen’ Childhood For Recent Arrest

Podracing jokes aside, the actor who is best known for having portrayed a young Anakin Skywalker in the first Star Wars prequel, The Phantom Menace, was arrested for reckless driving and failing to stop for officers on June 22. Jake Lloyd remains in custody as he awaits bond to be set.

Jake Lloyd left the acting business behind him after 2005’s Madison. He claimed that the fame that performing in the Star Wars series led to extensive bullying by his peers, and that it had made his childhood “a living hell.” It would be all too easy for Lloyd to use his experiences as a way to excuse his apparently bad behavior. It should be noted, though, that everyone has choices to make in life, and while bullying is a terrible experience to endure, Jake Lloyd is the same as any one of us in that he, too, has choices as to whether or not he plans on obeying the law.

Columnist Teo Bugbee from the Daily Beast suggests that perhaps Jake Lloyd’s arrest points to the spread of a more serious issue in society as a whole rather than just in Hollywood. To be sure, the young actor is not the only one to seem to implode, but Jake Lloyd is another in a string of young white men to seriously struggle with any attention they might receive in the years after his initial Hollywood experience. Emma Watson, for instance, has spoken in the past of her experiences with endless rounds of Hermione jokes in the years following her star-making turn in the Harry Potter series of films.

To date, Lloyd had not posted bond for his offense and remained in jail. On his arrest, Jake Lloyd gave his name as Jake Broadbent and in past interviews, the former actor has admitted that the fallout from his role in The Phantom Menace resulted in him destroying all his Star Wars memorabilia. His mother, an entertainment agent, has even said that he blames Lucas for his lack of interest in continuing his acting career.

Now 22, Jake Lloyd quit the acting industry because he “learned to hate when the cameras were on [him].”

Stolen childhood or not, Jake Lloyd is now the brunt of many jokes — possibly more so than when he actually played young Anakin Skywalker.

[Photo courtesy of ABC News]