Playing Anakin Skywalker Can Be Damaging To Your Mental Health – Just Ask Jake Lloyd.

I guess I am guilty of it too. After being a HUGE fan of the original movies, I was psyched to see "Star Wars - The Phantom menace" when it opened in the Spring of 1999. I left the theater incredibly disappointed, not only with Jar Jar Binks, but also with Jake Lloyd who played the young Anakin Skywalker in the movie.  Judging by fans reactions to that first film, I wasn't the only one wanting to throw Jake Lloyd under the bus. Now, he'll never act again because of it.

Jake, who turns 23 today, says,

"Other children were really mean to me.  They would make the sound of the light saber every time they saw me.  It was totally mad.

"My entire school life was really a living hell . . . and I had to do up to 60 interviews a day."

He also reportedly destroyed all his "Star Wars" memorabilia, although he does appear at sci-fi and comic book conventions now and then.

But he says,

"I've learned to hate it when the cameras are pointed at me."