She was the fresh-faced high school volleyball star who dated Ben Affleck for seven years before dumping him after he found it increasingly difficult to cope with his massive fame.
But while Affleck, 51, is at the center of rumors that his two-year marriage to superstar singer Jennifer Lopez is all but over, DailyMail.com can reveal that ex-girlfriend Cheyenne Rothman’s life couldn’t have been more different.
Now a happily married mother of three, Rothman, 52, dated the actor between 1990 and 1997 – longer than his romances with Lopez, also 52 – but turned his back on him and the Hollywood drama in favor of a quiet live in Alameda. , California.
Exclusive photos from DailyMail.com show how her life now revolves around her family: her husband, software engineer Lauren Haven, 50, and their three teenage sons.
Rothman, who hasn’t been photographed since a high-profile red carpet appearance alongside Affleck at the March 1997 premiere of Chasing Amy, now spends her days running errands in the Bay Area city and walking her dog.
Ben Affleck and then-girlfriend Cheyenne Rothman walked the red carpet together at the premiere of Chasing Amy in March 1997. The two began dating in 1990, but broke up shortly after their high-profile performance
DailyMail.com can reveal that Cheyenne, 52, is now living the quiet, peaceful life her Hollywood star ex always desired in Alameda, California. In the photo she is walking her dog in her neighborhood last weekend
Her social media profiles are intensely private and are locked or without photos of her, although she is keen to make her progressive political views clear by writing on her Facebook page about her admiration for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
It’s a far cry from Affleck and Lopez’s exciting existence – an existence he seems increasingly unhappy with, leading to him being called “the most miserable man in Hollywood.”
A source close to the former couple told DailyMail.com: ‘She’s the one who got away, but she was fed up with Hollywood and everything that came with its fame.
‘This is just speculation, but maybe he wouldn’t be so unhappy if they had stayed together. She was always very sweet and catnip to boys, but it was just too much for her.
He tried to get her back after they broke up [in summer 1997] but she didn’t want that lifestyle.”
The beautiful brunette met Affleck in 1990 when they both attended the “Commie” Camp Thoreau in Vermont – a now-defunct summer camp known for its lean-dive and socialist politics.
Despite attending different high schools in the Boston area — Brookline for Rothman and Cambridge Rindge and Latin for Affleck — they hit it off, with a source telling DailyMail.com that Rothman was “sweet and down to earth.”
The insider, who attended Camp Thoreau with Affleck and Rothman, said, “She was a girly girl. I really liked her.
Rothman, who hasn’t been photographed since their striking red carpet appearance, now spends her days running errands in the Bay Area city and walking her dog.
‘She was never a dramatic supermodel. She’s not flashy. But she just had a way about her that was irresistible.”
Affleck, meanwhile, was the life and soul of the camp. He regularly dropped out of bed and did push-ups to impress the girls.
An athlete himself, he was the star of the Cambridge Rindge and Latin indoor track team with a 1990 yearbook photo of him posing with his teammates and coach Maguire.
Affleck also excelled in cross country, with his team becoming Suburban League champions and runners-up in the state of Massachusetts the same year.
Although Affleck was athletic, he and classmate Matt Damon were also known for their acting. Affleck’s role on the PBS program Voyage of the Mimi made him a small-town celebrity.
The source said: “He was funny but he liked to tell people he was on TV. Matt was calmer.”
Like Affleck, Rothman was also known for her athletic prowess — and was called “our weapon in the backfield” by her volleyball teammates in the 1989 edition of Brookline High School’s Murivian yearbook.
After graduating high school, Rothman attended the private liberal arts college Colby in Waterville, Maine, while Affleck opted for the University of Vermont, a five-hour drive away.
Rothman briefly harbored her own Hollywood dreams and worked as a short film director after her divorce from Affleck. She is pictured at the premiere of her film Release the Kraken in 2004
Affleck moved on from Rothman by dating Gwyneth Paltrow, with whom he later starred in the films Shakespeare in Love and Bounce
Affleck married Jennifer Garner in 2005. The couple had three children before splitting in 2018. He then reunited with JLo and married her in 2022
Although Affleck left his Spanish studies after a few months and moved to LA, the pair continued dating for several years, with Rothman also moving to California after completing her degree in 1994.
But as Affleck’s fame skyrocketed, the relationship soured; it came to an abrupt end in the summer of 1997 when the actor moved on to Gwyneth Paltrow.
While Rothman briefly harbored her own Hollywood dreams — directing and producing a 10-minute comedy short called Release the Kraken in 2004 — her career took a more eclectic turn.
In a 2008 blog post, Rothman describes her 20s travels along the West Coast, becoming a teacher in LA, a lumberjack in Tacoma, Washington, and a residential treatment worker.
She also worked as a social worker in residential facilities and as a writer in Los Angeles before meeting and marrying Haven. She then became a full-time mother.
Contacted by DailyMail.com and asked if she would share some memories of her time with Affleck, Rothman declined to comment.
But as Affleck’s marriage to Lopez collapses under the weight of their combined fame and his well-documented battle with substance abuse, it appears the low-key, understated Rothman may have made the right choice after all.