Milhouse Mussolini Van Houten is a fictional character featured in the animated television series The Simpsons, voiced by Pamela Hayden. He is Bart Simpson's best friend in Mrs. Krabappel's fourth grade class at Springfield Elementary School. Milhouse is a smart, studious boy, but he is unpopular and deeply insecure. He is also very gullible; he is constantly led into trouble by Bart, who is not shy about taking advantage of his friend's naïve and trusting nature. Milhouse is one of the few residents in Springfield with visible eyebrows. Milhouse is constantly being bullied in some form or another by Nelson, Jimbo Jones, Dolph and Kearney, to the point of where Bart questions Milhouse by saying "Milhouse! I thought you had a three o'clock wedgie with Nelson," to which Milhouse casually responds "I had to reschedule." They often inflict extreme acts of physical violence upon Milhouse. They do this because they believe he is a nerd or a geek of some sort. He wears eyeglasses and cannot see without them, and when his glasses are off, his eyes appear to be small dots. In "Sideshow Bob Roberts", the schoolyard bullies wrapped Milhouse in bumper stickers and placed him in a shopping cart. After Jimbo claimed that "the mummy's ready for his mystical journey!", the bullies pushed the cart with Milhouse down a very steep hill. He is harmed frequently, and on some occasions he is injured by dangerous hazards, including being run over by a train, falling down a waterfall, being electrically shocked, having his head polished to bone, etc. In the episode "Homer Loves Flanders", Mr Burns has Milhouse crippled in order to inspire the local football team, and vows he will be back if the team do not win. He frequently visited a female psychiatrist called Dr. Waxler until she got fed up by his frequent callings and blocked his number so he could not bother her again. In fact, in "Bye Bye Nerdie", it is implied that Milhouse endured bullying so severe on his first day at Springfield Elementary, that he has to take pills to repress the memories. On one occasion, Bart got Milhouse placed on the FBI's Most Wanted list, even though they are friends, and he once tried to lure Milhouse into a cactus. This kind of torture is portrayed in many episodes, where Bart tries either to get Milhouse in trouble or to hurt him for no reason, making Milhouse's and Bart's relationship even more questionable. Though, Milhouse is not always Bart's toy; in "Bart Sells His Soul", Milhouse plays with Bart's anxiety while his pal is fretting to recover his soul... On one occasion, Bart introduces Milhouse to his girlfriend and attempts to explain why they are friends. He cannot come up with a real answer and admits that it is due to geographical reasons. However, Bart admits in "Little Orphan Millie" that he really loves Milhouse. Homer also seems to like joining in on his son's torment of Milhouse (constantly referring to him as "that little wiener Milhouse"). Sometimes Homer even seems to despise Milhouse and Bart's friendship. In the episode "Burns, Baby Burns" Larry, Mr. Burns' son, brings Homer to eat at his house. Mr. Burns then asks Homer if his son "brings home nitwits and make you talk to them" to which Homer answers "Oh, all the time! Have you ever heard of this kid Milhouse? He's a little wiener..." before being interrupted by Burns. In an attempt to purposefully enrage Homer, at one point Bart stated that he once felt "a little attracted to Milhouse", sending Homer into a mindless rage. Hilarity ensues. It would appear that Bart and Milhouse are the same height but in the episode "Radioactive Man" it is revealed that he is an inch taller than Bart. The writers frequently make Milhouse the butt of a variety of jokes, ranging from being beat up by Nelson for delivering a love note from Lisa (that Nelson thought was from Milhouse himself), to having the door slammed in his face while playing Pin the Tail on the Donkey, to having his possible budding homosexuality given away by his school counselor, to making him a wanted fugitive (see above), to inadvertently inheriting Bart's dismal permanent record at school through a side deal arranged between Bart and Edna Krabappel and Principal Skinner, which will disqualify Milhouse from "all but the hottest and noisiest jobs". In the episode “The Cartridge Family”, Milhouse implies that he is an excellent cook. Milhouse is fluent in Italian due to visiting his English language-hating grandmother Sofia in Tuscany for two weeks every year. Because of his grandmother's beatings, Milhouse learned Italian and started to wet his bed. Milhouse is allergic to honey, wheat, dairy, non-dairy and even his own tears. In the episode, "Little Orphan Millie", it is revealed that Milhouse is part Dutch and Danish, in the episode "The Last of the Red Hat Mamas" that he is part Italian. In another episode, it is revealed that Milhouse is part Greek when he mentions receiving a gift from his Greek grandmother for Greek Orthodox Easter. In the episode "Brawl in the Family", Milhouse told Bart he deserved a social worker because he had a stigmata which he suffered in his palms.
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