She was the young high school volleyball star who dated Ben Affleck for seven years before calling it quits after finding his growing fame increasingly difficult to handle.
But while Affleck, 51, is at the center of rumors that his two-year marriage to superstar singer Jennifer Lopez is almost over, DailyMail.com can reveal that his ex-girlfriend Cheyenne Rothman’s life couldn’t be more different.
Now happily married and the mother of three, Rothman, 52, dated the actor from 1990 to 1997 (longer than any of her romances with Lopez, also 52), but turned her back on him and Hollywood drama in favor of a quiet life in Alameda. , California.
Exclusive photos from DailyMail.com show how her life now revolves around her family: her software engineer husband, Lauren Haven, 50, and her three teenage children.
Rothman, who hasn’t been photographed since a high-profile red carpet appearance alongside Affleck at the Chasing Amy premiere in March 1997, now spends her days running errands around the Bay Area city and walking her dog .
Ben Affleck and his then-girlfriend Cheyenne Rothman were seen walking the red carpet together at the premiere of Chasing Amy in March 1997. The two began dating in 1990 but split shortly after their high-profile appearance.
DailyMail.com can reveal that Cheyenne, 52, is now living the quiet and peaceful life her former Hollywood star has always longed for, in Alameda, California. She is pictured walking her dog in her neighborhood last weekend.
Intensely private, her social media profiles are blocked or without photos of her, although she is happy to make her progressive political views clear, writing about her admiration for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders on her Facebook page.
It’s a far cry from Affleck and Lopez’s high-octane existence, one he seems increasingly dissatisfied with, leading to him being dubbed “the most miserable man in Hollywood.”
A source close to the former couple told DailyMail.com: “She was the one who got away, but she was already fed up with Hollywood and everything that came with her fame.”
‘This is just speculation, but maybe I wouldn’t be so unhappy if they had stayed together. She was always very sweet and fun with the kids, but that was too much for her.
“He tried to get her back after they broke up (in the summer of 1997), but she didn’t want that lifestyle.”
The brunette beauty met Affleck in 1990 when they both attended Camp ‘Commie’ Thoreau in Vermont, a now-defunct summer camp known for nude swimming and socialist politics.
Despite attending different Boston-area high schools (Brookline for Rothman and Cambridge Rindge and Latin for Affleck), the pair got along well, with a source telling DailyMail.com that Rothman was “sweet and down-to-earth.”
The source, who attended Camp Thoreau with Affleck and Rothman, said, “She was a girl.” I really liked it a lot.
Rothman, who has not been photographed since her high-profile red carpet appearance, now spends her days running errands around the Bay Area city and walking her dog.
‘She was never dramatically beautiful and super model. She is not flashy. But she had something that was irresistible.
Meanwhile, Affleck was the life and soul of the camp, frequently flopping out of his bunk and doing push-ups to impress the girls.
An athlete himself, he was the star of Cambridge Rindge and the Latin indoor track team, with a 1990 yearbook photo showing him posing with his teammates and Coach Maguire.
Affleck also excelled in cross country running and his team became suburban league champions and Massachusetts state runners-up the same year.
Although he was an athlete, Affleck and his classmate Matt Damon were also known for their acting; Affleck’s stint on the PBS show 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 more discreet.”
Like Affleck, Rothman was also known for her athletic prowess, and was dubbed “our defensive weapon” 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, working as a short film director after her split from Affleck. She is pictured at the premiere of her film Release the Kraken in 2004.
Affleck left Rothman behind and began dating Gwyneth Paltrow, with whom he later co-starred in the films Shakespeare in Love and Bounce.
Affleck married Jennifer Garner in 2005. The couple had three children before separating in 2018. He then reunited with JLo and married her in 2022.
Although Affleck abandoned his Spanish degree after a few months and moved to Los Angeles, the couple continued dating for several years and Rothman also moved to California after completing his degree in 1994.
But as Affleck’s fame soared, the relationship soured, reaching a stalemate in the summer of 1997 when the actor moved on to Gwyneth Paltrow.
While Rothman briefly harbored his own Hollywood dreams (he directed and produced a 10-minute comedy short called Release the Kraken in 2004), his career took a more eclectic turn.
In a blog post published in 2008, Rothman describes how she spent her twenties moving up and down the West Coast, becoming a teacher in Los Angeles, a lumberjack in Tacoma, Washington, and a residential treatment worker.
She also worked as a residential social worker and as a writer in Los Angeles before meeting and marrying Haven and establishing herself as a full-time mother.
When approached by DailyMail.com and asked if he would like to share some memories of his time with Affleck, Rothman declined to comment.
But as Affleck’s marriage to Lopez crumbles under the weight of their combined fame and well-documented battles with substance abuse, it seems the low-key Rothman made the right decision after all.
