Andy Cohen Addresses Assumptions He and John Mayer Are 'Sleeping with Each Other': 'We're So Affectionate'

Fans have long jokingly wondered whether Mayer and Cohen were ever more than friends for years

Andy Cohen is clearing the air about rumors surrounding his friendship with longtime pal John Mayer.

The Watch What Happens Live host, 55, addressed speculation that he and the Grammy winner are romantically involved.

“Let them speculate! I honestly love John Mayer, and he loves me,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “But because we’re so affectionate toward each other, people don’t know what box to put that in.”

He added: “They assume we’re sleeping with each other, which we are most definitely not.”

Related: Andy Cohen and John Mayer Share What They Love About Each Other, Including the Musician's 'Supple Lips'

Fans have long jokingly wondered whether Mayer, 46, and Cohen were ever more than friends, as the two have been close and affectionate pals for years. Cohen celebrated the singer's 40th birthday with him on a group trip to Brazil, while Mayer was a guest at Cohen's 2019 baby shower and previously serenaded him on his 50th birthday. He even spoke at Cohen’s Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony in February 2022.

"He's a Madonna stan and a Deadhead. He's an A-lister, who parties like a B-lister, with the free spirit of a C-lister," Mayer told the crowd during the ceremony. "I love Andy more than I can tell you. He's a brilliant human being, a hilarious cohort, a loving son and brother — and more recently he's become a proud, engaged and deeply devoted father."

Cohen revealed toTHR why he found Mayer’s speech to be particularly touching, explaining, “When he inducted me into the Hollywood Walk of Fame, John Mayer said that I unwittingly have become a gay best friend to people who never had a gay best friend. That really moved me.”

Related: Andy Cohen Takes 4-Year-Old Son Ben to See John Mayer's Concert: 'Hear Uncle John's Band!'

“There’s a lot of moms who have come up to me at book signings and say, ‘I watched your show for years with my son, who then wound up coming out of the closet, and having you meant a lot to us,’” he added.

Cohen’s comments come after the television personality claimed in June that he and Mayer were "in love with each other” during an appearance on SiriusXM's The Howard Stern Show.

When asked if he was in love with with the "New Light" singer, The Daddy Diaries: The Year I Grew Up author, who is gay, responded yes — but swore on his children Benjamin Allen, 5, and Lucy Eve, 2, that he and Mayer, who is straight, have never had a sexual relationship.

Related: Andy Cohen Breaks Silence on 'Hurtful' Claims of Bravo Exploitation: 'It's No Fun to Be a Target'

He later clarified on an episode of Radio Andy that he made the original comment "flippantly and off-handedly."

"It became headline news. And the more it became headline news, the more butthurt I got over it," he explained at the time. "You know why? Are two men not allowed to say that they're in love? Are we all so flipped out?"

After co-host John Hill teased that Cohen actually loved being associated with Mayer in that way, the TV personality explained that he actually finds the attention "weird."

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Cohen, meanwhile, who has been clarifying that he and Mayer never dated as far back as 2018, previously explained their bond on iHeartPodcasts' Table for Two with Bruce Bozzi in December 2022, praising the singer as someone who is "very in touch with his emotions."

"He very quickly in our friendship started saying, 'You know what, I gotta tell you something — I love you,'" Cohen said. "He is someone to say, 'I love you and I cherish you and I cherish our friendship' — just this stuff that straight guys aren't necessarily supposed to say."

"We have a very sweet friendship, and we are together all the time," he previously told CNN. "I was not surprised because we also have a great love for each other. So it just seems like the obvious assumption."

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