Ben Affleck dated his first love Cheyenne Rothman for 7 years before 'down to earth' brunette left star over his fame

ALAMEDA, CALIFORNIA: Ben Affleck's romantic history has completed a full circle with his marriage to Jennifer Lopez. Before making it big, Affleck met his first love Cheyenne Rothman as a teenager in the early '90s. The two dated for several years after initially meeting at the same summer camp.

Even though Rothman went with Affleck to the 'Chasing Amy' premiere in early 1997, their relationship had formally ended by that summer.

Ben Affleck's teenage love story with Cheyenne Rothman

The 51-year-old actor is the subject of speculations on the status of his two-year marriage to the famous singer Jennifer Lopez, however, the Daily Mail has learned that Affleck's ex-girlfriend Rothman's life is very different from his own.

Cheyenne Rothman used to be the young, attractive volleyball player from high school who dated Ben Affleck for seven years before ending things because she couldn't handle his rapidly rising stardom.

Now a happy married mother of three, Rothman, 52, dated the actor from 1990 to 1997—a longer period than any of his relationships with Lopez, 52—but she eventually gave up on him and the Hollywood drama in favor of a tranquil existence in Alameda, California.

Her life now centers around her family—her 50-year-old software engineer husband Lauren Haven, and their three teenage sons.

Rothman has not been photographed since her prominent red carpet appearance with Affleck at the 'Chasing Amy' premiere in March 1997. These days, she walks her dog and runs errands in the Bay Area. Her social media accounts are either locked or devoid of her own images, indicating her extreme privacy.

However, Rothman is content to openly express her progressive political beliefs, as evidenced by her Facebook page where she expresses her support for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. It is very different from the high-octane life Affleck and Lopez enjoy, where he looks to be getting worse, earning him the moniker "the most miserable man in Hollywood."

Ben Affleck met 'down to earth' Cheyenne Rothman at a camp 

The attractive brunette initially met Affleck in 1990 while both of them were campers at Vermont's 'Commie' Camp Thoreau–a doomed summer camp with a reputation for socialist ideologies and skinny dipping.

The two hit it off though they went to different Boston-area high schools—Brookline for Rothman and Cambridge Rindge and Latin for Affleck. A source told the Daily Mail that Rothman was "sweet and down to earth."

The source, who attended Camp Thoreau with Affleck and Rothman told Daily Mail, "She was a girl's girl. I really, really liked her."

"She was never dramatically supermodel gorgeous. She's not flashy. But she just had a way about her that was irresistible," the insider added.

Meanwhile, Affleck was the life of the party; he would often go outside his bed to dazzle the females by performing push-ups.

Despite his athletic nature, Affleck and his classmate Matt Damon were also popular for their acting talents. Affleck became a small-town superstar after appearing on the PBS series 'Voyage of the Mimi.'

Similar to Affleck, Rothman was known for her athletic ability. Her volleyball teammates referred to her as "our backcourt weapon" in the 1989 Murivian yearbook from Brookline High School.

After high school, Affleck chose to attend the University of Vermont, while Rothman enrolled at the private liberal arts college Colby in Waterville, Maine.

The two continued to date for a couple of years, as Affleck moved to Los Angeles, and Rothman moved to California after she finished her degree in 1994.

However, their relationship deteriorated as Affleck's celebrity grew and eventually came to an abrupt end in the summer of 1997 with the 'Air' actor having moved on to Gwyneth Paltrow.

Referring to Rothman, another source close to the ex-couple told the Daily Mail, "She is the one who got away but she'd had enough of Hollywood and everything that went with his fame. This is just speculation but perhaps he wouldn't be so unhappy if they'd stayed together. She was always really sweet and catnip to boys but it just got too much for her." 

The source added, "He did try to get her back after they split up (in summer 1997) but she didn't want that lifestyle."

Although Rothman produced and directed a 10-minute comedy short titled 'Release the Kraken' in 2004, she never pursued her own Hollywood goals. Instead, her career took a more diversified turn.