Aksel Hennie

If you sit in a room and think you're the only one that needs to be loved, then you have a big problem. If you are needy, you have to give the same as you need. If I need love, I have to give love. But that's just a personal thing.

I wanted to study painting and become a painter, but I had a huge flip-over in my life when I was about 18 or 19. I was part of a criminal environment; I got arrested and convicted, and I had to start thinking in a new way.

If someone comes to me and says they're not capable of being loved, I want to reach out to them and tell them that everybody's loveable. If a man is forced or wants to become a better man, then I root for him. Everybody needs to be loved.

I wanted to write with emotional honesty and tell a story people could connect with. And I wanted people to know how the foster system in America fails children; and how, at 18, they fall through the cracks. Then we can all work together and give support.

I don't think even when you find a person, you can be completely honest, ever. There's still pieces of you that you don't give away. I do believe you always need that place where it's just you, your thoughts, no one else's judgment or anything.