Andy Cohen addresses rumours that he’s hooking up with John Mayer: ‘I love him and he loves me’
Two pals can’t even kiss each other live on TV without people going on to speculate that they’re dating for several years afterwards, it seems (Bravo)
Gay talk show host Andy Cohen has addressed the age old rumours that he’s hooking up with singer-songwriter John Mayer, by boldly saying: “Let them speculate!”
As we’ve seen with Harry Styles and also Heartstopper’s Kit Connor, speculation about stars’ sexuality – as seen here with John Mayer – can be unhelpful at best and a form of ‘outing’ at worst. Kit Connor has spoken out about against people making “harmful” assumptions about others’ sexuality based on the way they act.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be enough to actually stop people doing it, and the latest celebs to face these rumours are good friends Andy Cohen and John Mayer.
Watch What Happens Live host Andy Cohen finally addressed the long-term speculation that he and Grammy winner John Meyer are in a relationship in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
“Let them speculate!” said Cohen, adding: “I honestly love John Mayer, and he loves me, but because we’re so affectionate toward each other, people don’t know what box to put that in.”
He explained: “They assume we’re sleeping with each other, which we are most definitely not.”
The pair have been friends for years, after discovering a mutual love of the rock band The Grateful Dead.
In a 2015 Entertainment Weekly article, the gay talk show star said: “John Mayer and I have what some would consider an unlikely friendship. He’s one of our greatest living guitarists, and I’m regarded as the dude that stirs the s**t on late-night TV.”
John Mayer spoke about their friendship at Cohen’s Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony in February 2022, saying: “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. 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.”
“Are two men not allowed to say they’re in love?”
During an appearance on “The Howard Stern Show” in June 2023, Cohen said: I am in love with John Mayer. We are in love with each other.”
However, he later swore on his two young children’s lives — Benjamin Allen, 5, and Lucy Eve, 2 — that he and Mayer have never had a sexual relationship. He added that he was annoyed that he had to clarify that.
“It became headline news. And the more it became headline news, the more butthurt I got over it,” he explained. “You know why? Are two men not allowed to say that they’re in love? Are we all so flipped out?”
The rumours date back to 2018, when Mayer serenaded Cohen with an acoustic version of Diana Ross‘s “It’s My House” on Cohen’s TV show, and Cohen thanked him with a hug and a kiss on the lips.
On a podcast in 2022, Cohen explained the affectionate nature of the pair’s friendship. “He very quickly in our friendship started saying, ‘You know what, I gotta tell you something — I love you,'” Cohen told podcast host Bruce Bozzi. “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.”
Whether John Mayer is gay, straight, bisexual or none of the above, it’s really no one’s business but his own.
