Jessica Simpson says prospective partners were told not to date her

Speaking on The Drew Barrymore Show about her single years, she

explained: "I was the person to run from because every guy would be listening to their publicist. 'Stay away, stay away you’ll never be a respected actor, you’ll never be a respected musician if you are dating her.' Well, I have dated some - a couple musicians, so ... Some under the radar that people don’t know about."

Meanwhile, Jessica previously insisted she remains respectful of her ex-husband Nick.

The singer - who has Maxwell, eight, Ace, seven, and Birdie, two, with her spouse, Eric Johnson - said: "I was really young and my success hadn't really begun. He knew me as this young, innocent 18 year old that had never been introduced to the world in so many ways. I went straight from my father to him. Nick's very smart. He was eight years older than me, but he was also young. We meant a lot to each other and we always will. I want to be very respectful because I married him for a reason and we were together for seven years. He has a family now and I would never say anything to disrespect that."