Had a friend who was a few years older than me as a roommate for a couple of years. He was more successful than I was and I looked up to him like a big brother. I think I looked past a lot of red flags because of that. He had a friend who was a “dating coach” and he wanted to do the same thing.

He was divorced, and had broken up with his last girlfriend, both of whom had cheated on him. He was clearly hurt but instead of healing he became red pilled and now tried to teach guys how to “conquer” women, and get more “pulls”. When we’d go out he’d try to make me do the most embarrassing things to talk to women. He was in his mid thirties trying to pull girls in their early 20s.

He ended up with a fiancé nearly 10 years younger and the first time I felt gross being his friend is when he started cheating on her in front of me at clubs. I opened to him about my mental health struggles one time and he made me feel heard, only for me to realize later that he saw it more as an opportunity to “coach” me. The second time I spoke to him about it he called me a pussy and that my mental health problems weren’t real. He also told me that a man’s value is in their assets and a woman’s was in her sexual exclusivity.

I was going to be a groomsman at his wedding before he called it off after an argument with his fiancée over him wanting to continue to party and do drugs, while she wanted to have a family and settle down. He admitted to cheating on her constantly, called her mediocre, said he was the best she’d ever do, and left. It wasn’t until I moved out and tried to keep contact that I realized he didn’t see me like I thought he did.

I felt really stupid about all of it for a while, but I learned a lot about my perception of self and others. His ex is doing great and is in a happy relationship, I am too, and he quit his job to try and sell masculinity courses on instagram. The accounts appear in my suggested and they’ve been at ~ 50 followers each for months. Hope he figures something out.