“Real Time” host Bill Maher is still in hot water for referring to himself as the “N-Word” while interviewing a Nebraska Republican senator last week, but now a former girlfriend is hinting that he has used the word in her presence before. 

TMZ caught up with Maher’s ex-girlfriend, Coco Johnsen, this week and asked her if he had freely used the “N-Word” around her when they were dating. 

She replied, “I’ve heard the word many times. I don’t wanna say exactly from where, but I’ve heard it many times, and I just think that anyone who uses that word needs to use other vocabulary.”

Johnsen said she did not think Maher was a racist but used the word for some shock value. Maher and Jensen dated for about a year and a half beginning in 2003.

Maher’s show “Politically Incorrect” was dropped by ABC in 2002 after he made insensitive comments after 9/11. A guest referred to the terrorists as “warriors” and Maher agreed, saying, “We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That’s cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, it’s not cowardly.”

Ice Cube, Michael Eric Dyson and Symone Sanders are all scheduled to appear on “Real Time” Friday to discuss Maher’s use of the “N-Word.”