He speaks 5 or 6 languages, and he works all over the world, and you know, dresses very beautifully. Alexander then married, Edson Jeune, a ballroom dancer. They set their wedding for 11 July 2015 in Rome. So it was scary. Reality struck Alexander's fantasy romance eight weeks before she was supposed to marry Macchiarini in 2015, when she received an email from a colleague with the subject line saying, "The Pope.". Alexander was assigned to work on the documentary about Paolo Macchiarini who has considered a pioneer in organ transplant. Read More: Where Is Paolo Macchiarini Now? . Alexander, an award-winning documentary TV producer, met Macchiarini in 2013 while working on a story about the surgeon's pioneering work transplanting synthetic tracheas, or windpipes. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. Benita has to keep a secret. In fact, he told me that Paolo would often leave their interview to engage in some frantic texting with someone, probably a lover, probably Benita. Previously considered a pioneer for using both biological and synthetic scaffolds seeded with patients' own stem cells as trachea . I, my friends sort of joke now that, you know, I was blushing all the time, and I was just giddy. Macchiarini.". Fans can also watch He Lied About Everything on InvestigationDiscovery.com. In June 2013, they flew to Venice for what Alexander called an incredibly romantic weekend.. But before the wedding can happen, Benita makes a . Benita Alexanders personal life story was part of the documentary film, He Lied About Everything. What is happening? "The headline is that it started out as a beautiful love story and it ended up as a total nightmare," said Benita. Maybe help me, help with the invitations 'cause I don't want to deal with that. Her first marriage was to fellow journalist John Noel. Elton John was going to be performing. The scale . He has peoples lives in his hands.. AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that empowers people to choose how they live as they age. And when I looked at the email, there was an article, and it was an article about the fact that the Pope was not even going to be in Rome on July 11th, 2015, he was going to be in South America. She said she'd never fantasized about a "Prince Charming." [00:31:35] Matthew Christopher: Yeah, it is a special process. I found him very um, hmm, he had a presence about him. Journalist Benita Alexander is swept off her feet by a dashing Italian doctor, Paolo Macchiarini, while filming a documentary about his miraculous surgeries. [00:34:59] Bob: When you went to her house, was Paolo there? We just made sure we took care of Benita. The famous surgeon, a miracle worker who gives hope to hopeless patients, who's rewriting the rules of medicine. [00:22:38] Bob: What Benita doesn't know at the time, she couldn't have known, is that Hannah's death also sparks the interest of the European journalist named Bo Lindquist, a Swedish filmmaker, he's already working on a documentary film about Paolo, but it isn't designed with a happy ending in mind. I mean I'm going to achieve this; you know what I mean? She said she later sent a lengthy text message to him, and received a single-word response: "Wow! Benita was pursuing a big story when the ill-fated lovers met in 2013. (chuckle). But Bo at the time had no idea who it was. Macchiarini and Benita quickly started planning an extravagant wedding, she said. The couple had the wedding planned for July 2015. Gerdin also said Macchiarini had failed to obtain ethical permits to perform the transplants, which he said amounted to experimentation on human subjects. Because the, in itself, more gowns were added into the wedding. Alexander said that day marked the beginning of their relationship. A contact she had to the Clintons told her they'd never heard of Macchiarini. In 2013, she was featured in the NBC documentary "A Leap of Faith." She has won numerous awards for her work. [00:40:30] Benita: Paolo lived in Barcelona, and so we had talked about what were we going to do after the wedding. Are you new to podcasts? I mean, and we didn't know what to do. It defeats the point, Benita recently said. That's pretty unusual too. I'm never viewed like that, but I was definitely like, huh? Her colleague had sent an article that said the pope would not be in Rome, or even Italy, on the day of their wedding. Among the high-powered clients who Macchiarini claimed were on this network were the Clintons, the Obamas and even Pope Francis. I mean most 8-year-olds will change their minds, you know, many times, but I never changed. I loved my life at NBC. Come on. I thought he was playing some kind of silly game with me. And this trip had been planned for a very long time. News Group Newspapers Limited in England No. The Perfect ScamSMis a project of theAARP Fraud Watch Network, which equips consumers like you with the knowledge to give you power over scams. He was incredibly generous, you know, and so romantic and just so wonderful. Give it to me. Cetir came to Macchiarini's attention after undergoing an elective procedure to correct a condition that caused excessive sweating. The Karolinska Institute, which had renewed Macchiarini's contract in November 2015, launched another investigation into Macchiarini and reversed its previous conclusions -- Macchiarini was indeed guilty of scientific misconduct, the Institute determined. Alexander hired a private investigator to investigate all the secrets and lies about Macchiarini. Therefore, when Benita met the charming Paolo Macchiarini in the spring of 2013, thanks to NBCs A Leap of Faith, and he swept her off her feet, she crossed the professional line to start a romance with him. Who lost her dad. And a very, very good listener and was giving me very wise, sage advice, you know, about all these questions; what to tell her, how to tell her, and I was sort of soaking it all up, and I was very touched by the fact that this man seemed so incredibly altruistic. She is an executive producer, narrator, writer and director known for her work in the true crime genre. She was taking an incredible risk by getting involved with Paolo. He never did that with me, but I, I've, I have seen him really being quite, quite unpleasant with um, PhDs and people who were sort of subordinate. Benita's story is also told on BBCs Outlook" podcast. In a 500-page complaint filed in 2014 that detailed their allegations, the doctors accused Macchiarini of promoting a medical procedure that showed few signs of success while endangering the lives of his patients. But as the wedding planning continued, Alexander's fianc became increasingly embroiled in work-related issues. I mean we were there to speak about science, so I thought, okay. What did he do this time?" Famous For Being an American actress and producer. [00:35:01] Matthew Christopher: No, no, just her friends who are so much fun. And uh I decided to, to take his favorite flowers, birds of--, bird of paradise, and I ended up going to a flower shop and getting three birds of paradise; one for me, my, one for my daughter, and one for John, and Paolo um, loved motorcycles, and we had been shooting him on a motorcycle. Macchiarini took Alexander to several romantic getaways in Europe. [00:17:51] Bob: Their relationship blossoms quickly. My daughter who, you know, has been through a lot. Um, it hit all of us very, very hard. Eventually, she died. [00:34:35] Bob: The first step is working with Benita on ideas for the wedding dress. "That's when he told me that there was this kind of clandestine network [of doctors] who are on call, basically, for these people.'". [00:13:10] Benita: When I met Dr. Paolo Macchiarini, and when I was working on this story, I was at an extremely vulnerable place in my life. But everything else, I'm planning everything, and you can't ask me any questions." The personal relationship between Alexander and Macchiarini continued to blossom. To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. After doing some digging, it transpired that Macchiarini was not the medical genius she thought he was. We had a long time together on the flight from Korea to Illinois. NBC News is pulling "A Leap of Faith" Meredith Vieira's documentary on controversial . [00:35:53] Bob: And while the dresses are being made, while the other wedding preparations are underway, Matthew meets Paolo. He was dying and Macchiarini became someone Alexander could lean on. And you know, dozens of roses and champagne and always the best champagne. She couldn't do anything that a normal child could do. And, and, and embraced me and held me so hard. Benita Alexander's documentary chronicles her fairytale romance with a celebrity surgeon that turned into a scam. [00:42:33] Bob: When Benita comes to her senses, she switches back into investigative reporter mode, and decides to find out the real truth behind Paolo. And he came to visit us in Australia, and I was just, I was only 8, but I was ab--, absolutely infatuated with what he was doing and asked him all these questions. And somehow, when I read that email, I guess all those little red flags that I had been ignoring, the things that were eating at my gut, I just knew. Hosted by Benita Alexander. I think he needs to be behind bars. It was magical. And he's getting noticed in the medical field. Macchiarini denied the accusations coming from his colleagues at the Karolinska Institute to Alexander, and she doubled down on supporting Macchiarini. Um, (laugh) I was uh, in my 40s. 5. And so that meant me quitting my job at NBC and leaving New York and pulling my daughter out of her very difficult to get into private school in New York. Alexander said Macchiarini later called her, telling her he was at the Vatican and that he had some big news: Not only did he find someone willing to perform the ceremony but he said it was his own patient, the pope himself. And it was very difficult for us um, with the story because, you know, we had all hoped for one of these happy endings, you know, this was, the hope was to do a two-hour special, and at the end of it, you know, Hannah's home in South Korea, running around the backyard with her, her big sister, and you know, being a happy toddler as, as she should have been all along, and you know, Hannah was the most vibrant little girl. Documentary producer Benita Alexander thought it was love when her job introduced her to internationally renowned surgeon Paolo Macchiarini. And it was, when I walked back to the motorcycle, he kind of, he just got off the motorcycle and I walked up to him, and I had tears streaming down my face, and he, he just grabbed me, you know. [00:34:17] Bob: Well, at some point you transition from wow to okay, I've got to get to work on this, right? And he said, "Just tell me when you want to stop." Benita graduated magna cum laude from Wayne State University in Michigan, with a B.A in journalism. ABC News reported that Macchiarini has never spoken publicly about his relationship with Benita. Once you confirm that subscription, you will regularly [00:24:20] Bo Lindquist: When we made our initial agreement to, to start filming, he said that his uh, personal life would be out of bounds, and I mean a bit odd that, that we couldn't even talk about where he went to school or, or something like that, but why should we? And I had seen paperwork that he had done work at the Vatican, consulting work. And [00:14:24] Bob: It feels natural for Benita to share the family struggle with this world famous surgeon, a man who had spent his career cheating death, or trying anyway. Star Benita Alexander-Noel See production, box office & company info Add to Watchlist 12 User reviews Photos Add photo [00:04:22] Bob: And you had a happy ending. Both have covered Macchiarini in their work. [00:39:32] Bob: And as the day approaches, Benita gets to try on that custom-made wedding dress. He says to me, "I want to take over the wedding planning and I want to surprise you with everything. He was a flair for the dramatic and plans one romantic encounter after another. When Benita Alexander eventually realized her whole relationship with Dr. Paolo Macchiarini was nothing short of a scam, she decided she wanted the world to know the truth about him. Alexander, an award-winning documentary TV producer, met Macchiarini in 2013 while working on a story about the surgeon's pioneering work transplanting synthetic tracheas, or windpipes. We need to be pointing the finger at the con man.. [00:36:00] Matthew Christopher: On Valentine's Day, I met him. I was there for about 20 minutes, and I, I tossed these flowers into the water, and I was, you know, very emotional in saying goodbye to John. [00:24:07] Bob: For many months, Paolo plays his cards very close to the vest as Bo starts asking questions about the patients Paolo has worked on. The third season, called "Dr. Death: Miracle Man" includes 6 episodes, along with a bonus episode that is an interview with Benita by host Laura Beil. It's, it's a very um, it has a lot of stature, that building and a lot of meaning. Her multiple awards include: Edward R. Murrow, 2 Emmys, 7 Emmy nominations, Alfred I. duPont-Columbia, NABJ and Sigma Delta Chi. But when it comes to the wedding, Paolo takes the lead. And when we went to Boston to interview Dr. Macchiarini, when he came in, it was um, I was with a colleague, and he, he came into this bar where we had arranged to have a coffee with him just to say hello the night before the interview, and you know there's, he's a very charming, good-looking man. Um, and so he had, we were coming back into the room after dinner one night, and I was kind of teasing him. He was incredibly generous with them as well. And I open the door, and there's a trail of rose petals leading up to the bed, and it says "I love you" in rose petals on the bed. She was floored when he told her John Legend would sing at their wedding and Pope Francis would officiate. 5 Journalist Benita Alexander (right) has revealed chilling clues that disclosed her lover and famed surgeon Paolo Macchiarini as a "romance scammer" Credit: Instagram / loveconned 5 She is currently the voice of the true crime series "Still A Mystery" on Investigation Discovery, and she has narrated four seasons of this ongoing, multi part show. Every time he took me on a trip, he just delighted in these, these big, over the top, elaborate surprises. [00:31:04] Matthew Christopher: I'm a couture wedding gown designer. Benita Alexander, an award-winning documentary TV producer and Paolo Macchiarini fall in love after meeting in 2013 while she is working on a story about the. [00:11:57] Benita: Ooh, you're going to make me do math. "I was doing a story about regenerative medicine and his name kept coming up," Benita, a New York resident, said on the podcast Dr Death: Miracle Man. [00:09:12] Bob: And so, Benita travels to Boston to meet the miracle worker for herself. But her death was awful. I was so career-driven, and so career-oriented, but I was madly in love. In February, 2021 it was featured as a two-hour special on ABCs 20/20. Her story is now featured as the third season of Wondery's hit podcast, "Dr. It was at this point that Benita said she started to feel that something was not right. You know, all these celebrities were coming. [00:23:10] Bo Lindquist: The first time was in Stockholm at the Karolinska Institute. After relocating to New York, Benita worked for NBC and was featured in NBC's documentary "A Leap of Faith" in 2013. For AARP's The Perfect Scam, I'm Bob Sullivan. We had, we had a very good relationship still when it came to our daughter and sharing custody and you know, both of us were very focused on our daughter. The two-part special details how Alexander, an award-winning investigative news producer, met Dr. Paolo Macchiarini while she was producing an NBC News special about the renowned surgeons work in the field of regenerative medicine. Benita Alexander is a producer, director, writer, and narrator, who has actually been behind several episodes of ID's 'Now,' 'Dateline,' and even 'Inside the Obama White House.' It thus comes as no surprise that her professional success has given way to her confidence. Alexander was working on a documentary about Macchiarinis success in the medical field. In 2019, the film was nominated in the documentary category for the WIN Awards, Women's Image Network. I want to focus on work. It was, it was really, really difficult. "I, to this day, have no idea why he lied about our entire relationship.". [00:23:14] Bo Lindquist: And then we traveled to different places. His six papers on the transplant surgery were retracted. His work, if controversial, is also groundbreaking. And these were all couples that were quote-unquote living in sin, you know, they had children out of wedlock, or whatever. [00:10:23] Benita: Yeah, the thing about this was, I am, and I'm, I'm very serious when I work. She is honestly proud of how far she has come (as she should be), and its evident shell never let anything or anyone take this journey/narrative away from her. All of this was happening around the same time that Alexander was preparing to share her own story publicly for the first time in a Vanity Fair article. It was kind of romance on steroids. They had already decided to marry in Italy, where Macchiarini wanted a Catholic wedding despite rules against remarriages. And I got so irritated with him, I actually hung the phone up on him. When her ex-husband died, Macchiarini helped Alexander cope. And, and then he would tell me the priest won't marry us, and this went on and on and on. Benita Alexander has been working as a Macchiarini at NBC News. You can also manage your communication preferences by updating your account at anytime. While still trying to care for Cetir, Corbascio said his team found that Macchiarini had exaggerated the effectiveness of his surgeries and falsified data to make the surgeries seem more successful than they were. Prior to this, Benita spent 17 years in network television, producing long-form documentaries, breaking news, investigations, specials and hard news features for NBC. And I just thought, okay, you've got some stupid little schoolgirl crush on this doctor, which is absurd. But then I, and this was October of 2014, and I went and googled, the first thing I did was I went to my desk and googled, literally googled, Does the Pope marry people? And what popped up was an article from a month earlier where the Pope had just married 20 couples in the Vatican. After a few days there, she traveled to Macchiarini's home in Barcelona, Spain, with some friends who came along for support. [00:41:47] Bob: But not as scary as what happens next. I didn't, you know, how do you, how do you not ask any questions, but all my friends convinced me, they said, "You know, Benita, you know he has amazing taste. [00:06:46] Benita: And he was, as I said, called the super surgeon, and he was the pioneer in this field. None of the promises Alexander said her fianc Paolo Macchiarini had made for their wedding day would come true. Um, I almost actually passed out. So I just found him very, I don't want to say intimidating, because intimidating's not the word. I had butterflies or something like some, some kind of electric spark went through my body, and I, my immediate thought was, what in the heck is that? Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Amazon Music| Spotify | Stitcher|TuneIn. He traveled to Illinois to operate on a Korean toddler who was born without a trachea and who was going to be the youngest person to ever receive an artificial one. In fact, we both worked for NBC in New York at the same time, but we didn't know each other then. The 56-year-old actually has a podcast appropriately titled Benita & the Berracas for the same, and she continues to be an active advocate on the matter. What to tell her. He is Italian. Benita was pursuing a big story when the ill-fated lovers met in 2013. A successful TV journalist, the single mother-of-one was interviewing him for a report on cutting-edge medicine. Alexander was working on a documentary about Macchiarini's success in the medical field. It started with Andrea Bocelli was going to be singing in the church, because Paolo told me that his mother and Bocellis mother were friends. It does so much unnecessary damage. [00:01:54] Bob: Benita didn't start her career working for a larger network in New York. She was even more stunned when she began to realize that so much of what Macchiarini had told her about his personal and professional life was a lie. He soon proposed, only for her to realize her fianc was a complete liar around a year later. Star-Studded Wedding Becomes Brides Worst Nightmare, Part 1, Journalist exposes her celebrity fianc, part 2, Computer hacker drains couple's life savings. Just like, oh, the dance dress was crazy. Um, maybe I felt like that at some point when I was really young and I had a, had a crush in school, I don't know, but I don't, I don't ever remember feeling like that. Excellent place. I want, I just want to get the job done. Macchiarini had been credited with developing innovative surgical techniques using stem cells in synthetic trachea transplants. Macchiarini remains married to Emanuela Pecchia, his wife of nearly 30 years. She was just like a little ray of sunshine, and a) I was just, it was so devastating when she didn't make it. The slip from "Prince Charming to pathological liar" took place over just two years, she said. He's Catholic. I had tried, at one point I pushed him away, and we didn't see each other for about three months. Cetir died waiting for the lung transplant she desperately needed. [00:05:44] Benita: Yeah, I mean the, we wanted to do a story about this field called regenerative medicine which added base core, the most simplistic way to define this is, it's sort of sci-fi, futuristic medicine where the, the goal is to be able to create body parts or organs in the lab, man-made. [00:35:21] Bob: It does sound like the kind, I mean we were talking about what, 10 gowns? If you want to tell somebody's story well, it, it helps if you can really tell it from their perspective. The way he used stem cells with his plastic tracheas would eventually develop into something quite extraordinary where you could use stem cells to target organs or other areas of the body where the, where there was a medical problem. Her daughter has thus been the only constant in her life. Macchiarini ran into some legal trouble regarding his stem cell treatments with Swedish prosecutors recently appealing a sentence given to the Italian surgeon, the Associated Press reported. Quack, quack, quack. Among several lies, Macchiarini told Alexander, one of those was Pope Francis officiating their wedding. She'd been in the intensive care unit in Turkey for three years, and her health was still deteriorating. "He comes around the corner, he looks right at me and in that second something happened. Benita has become a recognized love conned expert and along with speaking engagements, she is a regular guest correspondent on "The Dr. Oz Show." In 2020, she appeared on the ABC documentary series The Con to discuss her personal life and narrate what happened between her and Paolo Macchiarini. And we first met in early 2013. They become engaged and plan a lavish dream wedding, to be attended by celebrities and officiated by none other than Pope Francis himself. But Macchiarini showered her in flowers and jewelry. again. And I, I think at least that it makes me a better writer and a better journalist. I mean things don't move forward if we don't have people who are willing to, you know, you know, push things a little bit and he, he was that guy, you know, and he, he was very fascinating. The procedure uses the framework of a plastic tube lined with the patient's stem cells and is intended to help them replicate into a healthy version of the . Be sure to find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. But at this point, they're just questions. I don't know what I was. 5. 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