By C1 Staff
COLLETON COUNTY, S.C. — Former actor Jake Lloyd, who played young Anakin Skywalker in “Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace,” has been moved from his jail cell to a psychiatric facility.
Lloyd, also known as Jake Broadbent, was arrested last June after a high-speed chase in South Carolina.
According to WGNTV, the 27-year-old former actor was charged with failure to stop for a blue light and resisting arrest.
TMZ reported that Lloyd had been in jail since the incident.
Lloyd’s mother told TMZ that authorities recently decided that her son “needed help more than punishment, because he suffers from schizophrenia.”
Since the former actor moved to the psychiatric hospital, his mother said she can already see an improvement in her son’s personality.
In past interviews, Lloyd said “Star Wars” made his childhood difficult and was the reason he quit acting.
“Other children were really mean to me,” he said. “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.”