John Mayer revealed in a new podcast appearance that his decision six years ago to get sober has significantly changed up his dating life and his reputation as a celebrity womanizer.
The 45-year-old singer–songwriter said his days of serial dating are largely over after he lost the ‘liquid courage’ than his drinking use to provide him during an appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast.
Mayer’s statements about his diminished love life come after he was spotted last month having a seemingly romantic dinner date with the former Mad Men star Kiernan Shipka, 22, who is more than 20 years his junior.
He has previously dated a stunning array of high-profile stars, including Taylor Swift, Jennifer Aniston, Katy Perry, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and more.
Readjusting: John Mayer, 45, claimed on the Call Her Daddy podcast that his ‘womanizing’ has been significantly decreased since he lost the ‘liquid courage’ that came from drinking by getting sober six years ago; seen in September in Beverly Hills
‘Dating is no longer a codified activity for me, it doesn’t exist in a kind of… it’s not patterned anymore,’ the rocker confessed to host Alex Cooper.
‘I don’t really date — I don’t think that I have to, to be quite honest,’ Mayer continued. ‘I quit drinking like six years ago, so I don’t have the liquid courage. I just have dry courage.’
He previously confessed to Complex in 2018 that he gave up drinking after he went all out at Drake’s 30th birthday party, which left him feeling hungover for six days after.
‘I remember being like, “What happens if I keep going? I always stop here. What if I keep going?”‘ he recalled of his negotiations over his drinking at the birthday bash.
He added at the time that he made a ‘fool’ of himself, and he decided to stop boozing because he didn’t want to sacrifice so much of his musical talent in order to recover from benders.
New relationship? Mayer was most recently linked to Kiernan Shipka, 22, who is more than two decades his junior. They were seen sharing a hug in February and out on a dinner date in November; seen just before their hug in February
Sobered up: He said he quit drinking after a six-day hangover from Drake’s 30th birthday party six years ago. Since then, he has lacked the ‘liquid courage’ that helped him date; seen in February in NYC’s Madison Square Garden
Mayer also addressed his reputation for being a ‘womanizer,’ which has followed him throughout his many breakups, some of which have been immortalized in song.
‘I think, look, the elephant in the room is that I’m on a show that caters to women, and I have a couple of name plates on me, like “Lothario” and “womanizer,” and I think that is what that is,’ he said.
‘But I think people would be surprised to know that it was less me going like — you know the meme of the guy behind the tree? It was less this [rubbing his hands together] and more like this [looking around quizzically]: “Me?” Because it was always set forth to me that like, that shouldn’t happen,’ he explained.
The Dead & Company lead guitarist said he was ‘made to believe’ when he was younger that anyone showing romantic interest in him was an ‘accident,’ so he felt the need to ‘capitalize’ on it when it occurred.
‘And so I felt very deeply when somebody liked me. Very deeply,’ he continued.
Moving on: ‘Dating is no longer a codified activity for me, it doesn’t exist in a kind of… it’s not patterned anymore,’ the rocker confessed to host Alex Cooper; seen with Jennifer Aniston in 2008
He also addressed his reputation as a ‘womanizer,’ but he said he always hoped for last relationships with women
Even though he has a relationship as someone who quickly moves from relationship to relationship, Mayer claimed he always hoped for something more long term.
‘Every relationship I’ve ever been in was devoted to the idea that this could go the distance,’ he claimed. ‘My entire life, today included, if you told me that I could have a great two months with someone but it would end on the first day of the third month, I would not be interested. I’ve always sought potential for a long-term relationship.’
Elsewhere in the interview, Mayer disputed the view many critics have of him and his music as having a certain ‘jocky-ness.’
‘I didn’t have a presence,’ he claimed after the host asked him about his high school years. ‘So I think that one of the bigger misnomers about me is that there’s like a jocky-ness to me, you know? Like there’s an alpha, musician jocky-ness to me, and the bottom line is, like, I went to school to get it over with. And my life began at 3 o’clock in the afternoon when I came home and played guitar.’
Underestimating himself: Mayer confessed to having low self-esteem since he was younger. He said he jumped into relationship whenever someone showed interest because he thought it was a ‘fluke’ he needed to ‘capitalize’ on; seen in February in LA
Although Cooper noted that it was only a few years out from high school that he was picking up a Grammy Award for his hit single Your Body Is A Wonderland.
‘That was about my first girlfriend,’ he clarified. ‘That was about the feeling, which I think was already sort of nostalgic… I was 21 when I wrote that song and I was nostalgic for being 16.’
Cooper, like many of Mayer’s fans, was under the impression that it was about an unnamed A-list woman, but he claimed he wrote it before that was even a possibility.
‘No, that’s one of those things where people just sort of formed that idea, it gets reinforced over the years, no, no, no. I had never met a celebrity when I wrote that song,’ he said.
Mayer has a busy year ahead of him, which will see him kick off the final tour of the Grateful Dead continuation Dead & Company in Los Angeles on May 19, 2023.
Ancient history: Elsewhere, Mayer claimed that Your Body Is A Wonderland was written about his first girlfriend, and not a celebrity romance. ‘I had never met a celebrity when I wrote that song,’ he claimed; seen with ex Katy Perry in 2013
