Bomb and terror suspect Anders Behring Breivik, in red, leaves the courthouse in a police car in Oslo on July 25, 2011.
Jon-Are Berg-Jacobsen / AFP / Getty Images
Modern literature is teeming with proverbial sayings about friendship: a friend is a mirror into one's own soul, they'll stick by you through thick and thin. But what is there to say when your friend grows up to murder at least 76 people?
That's when friends always tell the truth, no matter how harsh. According to Anders Behring Breivik's childhood friend – who didn't want to be named, understandably – all promises of secrecy evaporate when one's "friend" turns into a violent murderer. The friend, who, at 32, is the same age as the shooter, spoke to Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet to paint a picture of a right-wing nationalist who had a childhood just like the rest of us.
(PHOTOS: Anders Breivik, Norwegian Extremist)
The two first met when the unnamed friend moved to the same neighborhood as Breivik in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. "There are many good memories, but... this is just sick," the friend says, elaborating on a few details of Breivik's life that could help explain his decline into madness.
As a kid, Breivik encountered typical schoolyard troubles. "At the end of sixth grade I noticed that he began to become a bit of an outsider. He was getting a bit bullied," the friend notes. Unable to deal with rejection from those around him, Breivik reportedly turned to the gym, lifting weights and taking steroids to bulk up in an attempt to mitigate his inferiority complex.
He also allegedly attempted to improve his outward appearance with the help of a plastic surgeon. The friend alludes to the fact that he went under the knife a few years ago in the U.S.: "He was very pleased. He had had surgery on his forehead, nose and chin." The pictures of Breivik that have circulated recently, culled from Facebook and other online sources, seem to portray a put-together man. It's fitting, then, that the friend describes him as a perfectionist.
(MORE: Breivik Interviews Himself)
Despite a clean shave and well-coiffed hair, Breivik was still unlucky in love. "He has never had a girlfriend, as far as I know," the friend told Dagbladet, and Breivik may have never even been with a woman. He denied being gay, despite a photo of him dancing at the 2004 gay pride parade in Oslo. Breivik talks up his desire for women in his manifesto, claiming he's "fit like hell" and writing that women approached him on occasion.
The last time the friend met with Breivik was a year ago. So how does the friend feel now? "I feel an enormous amount of hatred… There are no words," he says. Well, no positive words, at least. – Translated by Beau Friedlander for TIME
Nick Carbone is a reporter at TIME. Find him on Twitter at @nickcarbone. You can also continue the discussion on TIME's Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.
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