I’m hoping not to make this long, but my boyfriend and I have been dating ever since December; he’s 19 and I’m 23. Things have been going pretty well up until we met his supposed “phone friend” in person who I’ll call John. John is a complete jerk, immensely opinionated, obsessed with his appearance, obnoxious and catty, has a drinking problem, is bipolar, and is obsessive over my boyfriend. When he gets drunk, he gets violent and I even had to stop him from hitting my boyfriend the day we met him. John also even threatened to kill him! I’ve been trying to confront my boyfriend about this for the longest time, but his excuse is always “he’s my best friend and my doctor says I need someone like him in my life to relate to,” because he’s bipolar also. Only problem is that the advice is stupid because John is too hazardous to be around and my boyfriend’s friends along with myself and my friends think that he’s a terrible influence, not to mention that the guy is 30 and should have his life more together than this. I’m thinking that he’s a bad influence more solidly because after our visit with John, my boyfriend’s began to slowly mimic his behavior and has become more impulsive, is drinking more, and is becoming more and more obsessed with his appearance–he’s pretty much not the guy who I fell for. In truth, I believe that John is eventually going to be the end of our relationship if he stays in the mix and I’m ultimately at a loss on what to do.