John Mayer insists he hasn't "been a d**k in many years".

John Mayer

John Mayer

The 41-year-old musician is known for his bad boy reputation and often rude persona, but says he's cleaned up his act in recent years, and now thinks the stereotype that he's a "d**k" is "a really outdated take" on his personality.

He said: "Some people still say, 'That guy's a d**k.' And I go, 'Well, any of that data you're working off of is really old.' I mean, I can tell you for sure that I haven't been a d**k in many years. That's a really outdated take."

The reputation of the 'New Light' singer largely came from comments he made about his sex life - including calling ex Jessica Simpson "sexual napalm" - and he now admits his ruder tendencies were brought on by his belief that he was untouchable.

Speaking to Billboard magazine, he said: "I probably had a run in my life where I wasn't aware that there was anything I couldn't have. And it made a monster out of me. And there's something very freeing about you can't. And that's about the right age in your life where you go, 'Yeah, you can't.'"

His comments come after he recently gave an interview about his sex life, where he admitted he thinks his body count is "a soft 500", but says he gets rejected a lot because he's become "PR poison" for many people.

He said: "I don't think that people are into the idea of like, 'I snagged John Mayer.'"

John has been in several high profile relationships with the likes of Jessica, as well as Katy Perry, Jennifer Aniston, and Jennifer Love Hewitt.

He was most recently linked to fellow musician Halsey after the pair exchanged a series of flirtatious messages on social media, but the 24-year-old pop star took to Twitter this week to hit out at anyone suggesting they're an item, stating it's possible for two people of the opposite sex to be friends and not be "sleeping together".

She wrote: "I just had a ground breaking idea. What if...we let female artists...have friends...without assuming that they are sleeping together?

I know I know. It's like, completely ambitious but like, imagine if we like, tried ? (sic)"