“Not a womanizer”: Singer opens up about rumoured sex addiction

It's long been taken as fact that singer John Mayer was not just a total player, but a fully-fledged sex addict too – but he says that's not the case.

At the height of his playboy ways, the star dated (and broke the hearts of) a string of high-profile women, from Jessica Simpson and Taylor Swift to Katy Perry, Jennifer Aniston and Jennifer Love Hewitt.

Despite having once described Jessica Simpson as "sexual napalm," the singer has spoken out in an interview claiming he is not in fact addicted to sex… or women… or breaking hearts.

When asked by interviewer Ronan Farrow on the TODAY Show if he considered himself a womanizer, John answered with a vehement "no," adding, "Absolutely not."

No ladies, he's an ego addict, and admits he is constantly seeking validation. "The only way that I can be sure that I don't relapse is to admit that I constantly have this ego addiction — every day. So, I do the Grammys and I go home cause if I stayed, I'd get high again… You've already looked through Twitter, everybody goes, 'It's great,' and then you're low again because you can't stop looking. So, I'm a recovered ego addict."

The singer says he was misunderstood in previous interviews when he was "out of touch" and "being a ham," but that he never intended anybody to think of him as a "womanizer."

If he was given the chance to meet himself as a younger man, John said he would most likely think, "'That guy's really, really talented, but I don't want to be anywhere near him when that thing goes off!' There was never a shot of doing this perfectly. It was never in the cards."

So does he still seek validation? Well, he tries not to. "I will not check Twitter [after this interview]," he told Ronan. "But I check the mirror. The original Twitter."

Whatever works for you, John. Just don't go messing with our pals Taylor and Katie, alright?!