And that presence was really something, it was really something. [00:23:14] Bo Lindquist: And then we traveled to different places. Because the, in itself, more gowns were added into the wedding. And I got so irritated with him, I actually hung the phone up on him. You know, "You've, you've renewed my faith in love.". [00:12:46] Benita: Oh yeah, no, I immediately just sort of shoved it down and thought whatever that was, it was, it was silly, and uh, let's forget about that. Benita now uses her personal story of survival and resilience to help other women who have been love conned find the road to recovery. And right about then, across the Atlantic Ocean, Bo is about to find out the real truth about Paolo too. Benita Alexanders personal life story was part of the documentary film, He Lied About Everything. A contact she had to the Clintons told her they'd never heard of Macchiarini. Exploring the troubling tales of people manipulated by claims and promises that proved too good to be true, it reveals how the perpetrator fooled their victims and made them pay the price for their misplaced trust both emotionally and financially. He, he was supposed to be their last hope. She is currently the Executive Producer/Showrunner of the true crime series "Crimes Gone Viral," which airs on Investigation Discovery and is in its second season. But when it comes to the wedding, Paolo takes the lead. [00:01:28] Benita: I grew up in Australia, and I had an uncle, my mother's brother, who worked for Radio Free Europe. I loved my life at NBC. He was listed as one of . What did he do this time?" And these were all couples that were quote-unquote living in sin, you know, they had children out of wedlock, or whatever. Macchiarini has not yet entered a plea, but has denied all of the charges. We had a long time together on the flight from Korea to Illinois. "He [the Pope] wanted to use us as the poster couple for the Catholic church, to prove people who are divorced can get married in the Catholic church.". Alexander said she never thought she'd be part of Macchiarini's life, particularly because he was a subject in her work. [00:42:58] Bob: If you have been targeted by a scam or fraud, you are not alone. But everything else, I'm planning everything, and you can't ask me any questions.". Not, not that kind of just instant, immediate spark. And basically giving up everything. And so he took me on his motorcycle along the Illinois River. I loved everything about it, and to be sort of plunging into the unknown, even though I felt very secure with Paolo, happily in love. 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. He actually brought him home on Christmas Day, and he and I are still in touch. With a purported VIP list of friends and clients that included former presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, Russian president Vladimir Putin and entertainment icons such as Elton John, their wedding was expected to be one of the biggest events of the year. [00:17:24] Bob: He was there when she needed somebody. [00:02:26] Bob: I remember walking into 30 Rock thinking it was the equivalent of walking into Yankee Stadium or something. Please return to AARP.org to learn more about other benefits. Together, they'd spend long weekends traveling to different countries, like Mexico, Russia and Greece. These were made in a lab out of the very same plastic that a soda bottle is made out of, and then he would bathe this in the patient's own stem cells in something called a bioreactor, and then transplant that, this plastic windpipe into people. Um, she was being brought to Illinois, the Children's Hospital of Illinois because a Korean nurse there had found Hannah in the hospital in Seoul and had sort of lobbied to bring her to the US. 'People Magazine Investigates' : Tracking Down the Man Who Allegedly Killed Mom of Two Joy Hibbs in 1991, Arrest Made in Beloved Mother's Cold Case Murder and Prosecutor Credits 'People Magazine Investigates', 'Hiding in Plain Sight': All About Jimmy Savile, Disgraced Royal Confidante Featured in Netflix Doc, 'People Magazine Investigates' : Inside Decades-Old Disappearances of 5 People Along the Snake River. She later tied the knot with a ballroom instructor Edson Jeune in 2012, yet even that didnt work out. See the shocking new details about Paolo Macchiarini's alleged medical crimes, new interviews and new revelations Friday on "20/20" at 9 p.m. You know this man adores you. I didn't know what to think. "The woman in Barcelona was not his wife. [00:17:35] Benita: Around this time that my ex-husband, John, passed away, we became romantically involved. I was just giddy with happiness. But before the wedding can happen, Benita makes a . Once you confirm that subscription, you will regularly Most importantly, though, we need to mention that Benita not only attended the former doctor/her former fiancs trial in Sweden, but she also covered it as a correspondent for season 3 of the Dr. [00:31:07] Bob: But what is a couture wedding gown designer? The couple divorced in 2009. It could go out the window. And whatever that is, let's, let's push that away, you know. Death podcast. She was devasted to learn all the lies told by Macchiarini. With the celebrations set to last four days, Alexander had her dress designer make four different gowns. So I just found him very, I don't want to say intimidating, because intimidating's not the word. I was, I was conflicted about it. In 2013, the successful documentary producer met world-renowned, Dr. Paolo Macchiarini while working on a project for a major network. But the biopsies showed the cells were dead and that there was actually fungi growing on the plastic, he said. And so does anyone who has anything to do with the wedding. And we finally decided that we would live in Barcelona. And we rode for probably 30, 45 minutes until I sort of found a spot that I thought was appropriate, and I got off the bike and I went to the water. I didn't even, I, I, I stopped in hesitation. And the stem cells were supposed to magically integrate, and he was fixing people. A new two-hour "20/20" reports on Benita Alexander, a television producer who fell head over heels in love with world-renowned surgeon Paolo Macchiarini while producing a report on his revolutionary new surgery technique. 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. [00:19:03] Benita: (laugh) Yeah, yep, yeah. Of the eight patients given artificial tracheas by Macchiarini, only one is still alive today. ET on ABC. 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? Benita Alexander grew up like a regular American kid. And I had seen paperwork that he had done work at the Vatican, consulting work. 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. Benita Alexander is an award-winning investigative television producer, showrunner, correspondent, director, writer and narrator who has worked on a wide variety of film and TV programs. ABCs The Con is a true-crime documentary series that unveils the curtain on the people behind some of the most atrocious scams in recent times. 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. "From that moment on, it felt like my head was spinning," Alexander said, "and it didn't stop spinning.". Paolo had actually told her that Pope Francis would be officiating their wedding and that celebrities such as Elton John, the Clintons, the Obamas, and the Beckhams, among many others, would be in attendance, and shed somehow believed him. It was, it was really, really difficult. AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that empowers people to choose how they live as they age. 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 surgeon's pioneering w Show more. Ole Petter Ottersen, president of the Karolinska Institute since 2017, told ABC News in a request for comment on Macchiarini, "It is obvious that KI's initial handling of this case was insufficient and inadequate on several points. That hideous under eye makeup , the obvious heavy Botox , that absurd VERY heavy makeup AND that over-dyed silly black hair says it all. [00:20:06] Benita: We had kind of quietly gotten engaged, but we weren't telling anybody um, because I mean the complicated thing about this is that there's a sort of unwritten rule in journalism that everybody understands, that, you know, there's, there is a line you just don't cross a kind of sacred line where you don't, you can empathize with a story subject, you can sympathize, but you don't become personally involved with a story subject for, for the reason, obviously, that your objectivity could be compromised, right. [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. You know, "What did he do this time? Alexander was assigned to work on the documentary about Paolo Macchiarini who has considered a pioneer in organ transplant. Benita has spoken about her experience in numerous national and international TV and radio programs. "Then he said he had connections to the Vatican. I really felt that we made a difference, you know, we, our story played a huge role, I think, in paving the way for him to finally bring his son home, and those are the kind of things that really mean a lot, at least to me in journalism. It's, it's a very um, it has a lot of stature, that building and a lot of meaning. Short Press Reel. [00:10:23] Benita: Yeah, the thing about this was, I am, and I'm, I'm very serious when I work. [00:31:32] Bob: I mean that sounds like a very special process. They said that the patient was doing fine and that's not true: One of his lungs was completely obliterated from a chronic infection.". In 2015, Alexander sent emails to the Karolinska Institute expressing concerns about the acclaimed surgeon. And he said, "Just tell me when you want to stop." 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. Documentary producer Benita Alexander thought it was love when her job introduced her to internationally renowned surgeon Paolo Macchiarini. [00:26:36] Benita: Paolo wanted a big, Catholic wedding. Benita Alexander has been working as a Macchiarini at NBC News. Six years later, in 2009, they filed for divorce. 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. I just, I felt like somebody punched me in the stomach. An astonishing true story of love, betrayal and unimaginable deception. Benita is the Executive Producer of the documentary film, He Lied About Everything, which premiered in the U.S. in 2018 on Investigation Discovery, and continues to be broadcast around the world. You will be asked to register or log in. A post shared by Benita Alexander (@loveconned). She said Macchiarini had told her that for their wedding, the Vatican had offered them the pope's summer residence in the Italian town of Castel Gandolfo. "When I started reading specifically the papers that Paolo himself had written, then we could quite quickly come to the conclusion that what was written in the papers was not what was going on in reality," Corbascio said. Her colleague had sent an article that said the pope would not be in Rome, or even Italy, on the day of their wedding. The doctors also raised the issue that Macchiarini had reported on a patient in a way that suggested the patient was still alive, even though they had died before the paper was published. He Lied About Everything is the true tale of the love affair between award-winning investigative producer Benita Alexander, and world-renowned surgeon Paolo Macchiarini. By the time he performed the artificial trachea transplant on Cetir, he had already performed the same procedure on four other patients. "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.
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