He worked at the place that awards the Nobel Prize in Medicine, Karolinska Institute in Sweden, Stockholm, Sweden. 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. Powered by WordPress.com VIP. And Benita had a veil, and I brought over some dresses, and we were having some champagne, giggling and sketching, and it was so fun. 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. Documentary producer Benita Alexander thought it was love when her job introduced her to internationally renowned surgeon Paolo Macchiarini. In 2015, she served as a co-executive producer on Breaking the Silence, which featured DWTS pro Cheryl Burke, and Counting On alums Jessa Seewald and Jill Duggar Dillard. 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. And he was putting artificial tracheas, the windpipe, into patients. News Group Newspapers Limited in England No. 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 failing organ. In September 2020, Swedish prosecutors announced charges against Macchiarini for aggravated assault in connection to three surgeries that he had performed at the Karolinska University Hospital, including Cetir's. ET on ABC. Season 1 (206) 2018 13+ 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. I was just giddy with happiness. She said she called the castle where all the guests were supposed to be staying and asked them about the reservation, which they didn't have. [00:32:26] Bob: And so she comes in with a small team, right, and you all sit around a table, and what does she say to you? 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. She was taking an incredible risk by getting involved with Paolo. [00:05:31] Bob: Benita worked on several stories about medical miracles, and at the time, there was one kind of medical miracle that just kept coming up. ABC News reported that Macchiarini has never spoken publicly about his relationship with Benita. She found out exactly what hed lied about - and she said it was extensive. She couldn't run around and play. Please return to AARP.org to learn more about other benefits. [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. Um, you know, they come in and I'd say, "Welcome to your closet." And I made it to this point. Um, which is just something I never thought I would do, you know. "It was the weirdest thing," Alexander said. Benita Alexander is an American television producer, director, writer, and reporter. And that frees up Benita to go public about their relationship. Mathias Corbascio, another cardiothoracic surgeon who worked at the Karolinska Institute at the time, said the intensive care unit doctor responsible for her care began consulting with him on the literature written by Macchiarini on tracheal replacements. [00:35:01] Matthew Christopher: No, no, just her friends who are so much fun. It defeats the point, Benita recently said. "He comes around the corner, he looks right at me and in that second something happened. And he's Italian, and he wanted this big Catholic wedding in Italy. "She had suffered at least two strokes; she had lost much of her vision, so she was partially blind; she couldn't walk," Pinto said. [00:31:42] Matthew Christopher: Yeah, I do, you know, I've done tons of celebrity stuff, tons of Broadway stuff. And after he left, I said to my parents, that's what I'm going to do when I grow up. In her personal life, she's also looking for a medical miracle, a miracle that, well it wasn't going to come. Cetir's family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the manufacturer of the plastic tube used in Macchiarini's procedure. And then um, (sigh) oh her sisters, the two bridesmaids, and then two flower girl dresses. Learn how to subscribe to AARP Podcasts on any device. They set their wedding for 11 July 2015 in Rome. Alexander had already sent invitations to her closed ones. He was listed as one of . "I put it all in a message. [00:35:41] Matthew Christopher: Yeah, and we definitely um, we made sure that through this process, we made sure we took care of her, you know what I mean. To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. [00:36:44] Bob: I feel like there's some people you meet who are simultaneously uh impressive but uncomfortable. [00:03:01] Benita: Yeah, one of the ones um, there was a father in New Jersey, whose wife had abducted their son to Brazil, parental abduction, which is when one parent takes the child, against the other parent's will to another country. I had to understand what happened and why. It could go out the window. I was like why, why are you videotaping me again. He spent months supposedly going to different churches in Italy, and he would send me pictures of these places, and all these details, and asked me if I liked them or not. Oxygen.com interviews filmmaker and reporter Benita Alexander, an executive producer of the 90-minute documentary "Seduced by Evil," about con man Derek Alldred. Previously, Benita Alexander had created a documentary called He Lied About Everything, where she opened up about Paulo Macchiarini and how she got love conned by him. But this magic carpet ride takes so many twists and turns that well, you just have to hear them for yourself. It was, it was a huge change and a huge change for my daughter. 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. And I said, "Well how's that going to work, because we're both divorcees," or so I thought, and I'm not Catholic. He told her opera singer Andrea Bocelli would be singing in the church during their wedding and that John Legend would be playing the piano at their ceremony. It was eight months later when they became properly engaged after Macchiarini presented her with a $100K ring. In mid-2013, they became a couple and in December that year they became pre-engaged as Macchiarini, who lived in Barcelona, Spain, said he was still legally married with two children but had been separated for a long time and was filing for divorce. And so we, we thought, you know, this is a perfect case to focus a story around, and so we started doing Hannah's story. [00:12:11] Benita: Not like that, you know, this was, this was one of those almost cliche movie moments where, you know, I don't even believe in love at first sight, but there was some sort of thing, something happened. I think he was looking for challenges, and uh, things that makes life much, much more exciting. Gerdin also said Macchiarini had failed to obtain ethical permits to perform the transplants, which he said amounted to experimentation on human subjects. [00:30:34] Bob: Now your wedding is a cause. [00:00:34] Welcome back to The Perfect Scam. 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. Her new podcast "Benita and the Berracas," will feature Benita talking to other women who open up to her about their own love conned stories, along with advice on how to avoid becoming a victim. [00:21:08] Bob: Benita is proud of her work and happy with her husband-to-be, excited to put the finishing touches on Hannah's medical miracle story, but before the piece airs, the story takes a dark turn. And I was really wrestling with all of it. [00:35:25] Matthew Christopher: Um, gosh, 1-2-3 for her. 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. "She was having problems with infections so, at that point, she came into contact with Dr. Benita was pursuing a big story when the ill-fated lovers met in 2013. 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. And he actually said his barber in uh the south of Russia, he, he managed to find this excellent, excellent barber in Kazan there where he performed his Russian experiments, brilliant guy. Be sure to find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. [00:33:49] Matthew Christopher: I mean yeah, I'm like oh, look. I mean it was crazy. Of the eight patients given artificial tracheas by Macchiarini, only one is still alive today. You know, "You've, you've renewed my faith in love.". "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. Lindquist's three-part documentary series "The Experiments" began airing just over a week after the damning Vanity Fair article was published in early January 2016. With Whoopi Goldberg filling the narrators seat, the series kicks off with the story of Paolo Macchiarini, a former world-renowned thoracic surgeon now known for research fraud and his strange involvement with an unsuspecting producer by the name of Benita Alexander. See production, box office & company info, Fatal Experiments: The Downfall of a Supersurgeon. And he said, he finally said, "Well, I'm going to go and talk to my contacts at the Vatican." You know, "What did he do this time? It does so much unnecessary damage. Thank you to our team of scambusters; Executive Producer, Julie Getz; Researcher, Haley Nelson; Associate Producer, Annalea Embree; and of course, our Audio Engineer, Julio Gonzalez. In response to Gerdin's report, Macchiarini denied all the findings. But when it comes to the wedding, Paolo takes the lead. "As furious as it makes me what he did [to me and] my daughter, the thought that this is a man who has people's lives in his hands. And as they ride the motorcycle away from the river, the magic carpet ride takes off. She couldn't eat. After she called Macchiarini, furious about what she'd read, she began to wonder what else he might have lied about. I did not think that by pulling that thread, we would completely undo the sweater.". However, while filming with Macchiarini, Alexander's ex-husband, the father of her young daughter, had been diagnosed with brain cancer. And I also had my beard uh, uh, cut there. Some even believed he'd win a Nobel Prize one day, according to author Stuart Ritchie. '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. But Macchiarini showered her in flowers and jewelry. (chuckle). "The headline is that it started out as a beautiful love story and it ended up as a total nightmare," said Benita. Benita Alexander and Paolo Macchiarini fall in love Alexander, an award-winning documentary TV producer, met Macchiarini in 2013 while working on a story about the surgeon's pioneering work. It's, it's a very um, it has a lot of stature, that building and a lot of meaning. Along the way he promises her a fairy tale wedding to be officiated by the Pope. And so we were looking into this field, and we found this doctor. "I went full on into investigator mode as I knew he wouldnt tell me the truth," Benita said. Benita Alexander is a producer, director, writer, and narrator, who has actually been behind several episodes of IDs 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. The scale . ", "As devastated as I was and as much as I wanted to crawl under the covers and hide and stay there, I knew I couldn't fall apart," she said. "Paolo was a really good listener," Alexander said. He proposed to Alexander on Christmas in 2013 and she said yes. And it's Paolo who helps Benita figure out the best way to say goodbye. She started her career at a local news station before moving on to work at NBC in New York. But before the wedding can happen, Benita makes a discovery that may prove the doctor is not all he claims to be. [00:19:03] Benita: (laugh) Yeah, yep, yeah. I don't know if I was nervous. One name kept coming up over and over again, Dr. Paolo Macchiarini. Macchiarini had been credited with developing innovative surgical techniques using stem cells in synthetic trachea transplants. After a few days there, she traveled to Macchiarini's home in Barcelona, Spain, with some friends who came along for support. I found him very um, hmm, he had a presence about him. You know, we should do this to help Pope Francis, we should do this to help the Catholic church, and so it was almost like an obligation. A successful TV journalist, the single mother-of-one was interviewing him for a report on cutting-edge medicine. Which sounds a bit absurd, however, he is an Italian surgeon. Free online workshop! How to, what do we do now? Meanwhile, the doctors were still trying to save Cetir's life. Excellent place. There's so much she couldn't do, but she had this sparkling personality. [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. [00:17:51] Bob: Their relationship blossoms quickly. Benita Alexander has been working as a Macchiarini at NBC News. Benita's story is also told on BBCs Outlook" podcast. How do we, how do we tell this story? And this is something very clandestine and secretive and he cant talk about, but hes been doing this for many years, and he is a celebrity surgeon to a number of famous people and celebrities, but that he cant talk about this because hes tied to people who want a private doctor who will attend to them but, you know, they have these private doctors, because they don't want anyone to know, you know, whats going on in their private life. He soon proposed, only for her to realize her fianc was a complete liar around a year later. So over the next few days he tells me that theres something hes never told me before, and that he is actually Pope Franciss private personal doctor. [00:06:46] Benita: And he was, as I said, called the super surgeon, and he was the pioneer in this field. . 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. In 2019, she produced the Oxygen doc Seduced By Evil, which chronicles another con-man, Derek Alldred. Journalist Benita Alexander is swept off her feet by a dashing Italian doctor, Paolo Macchiarini, while filming a documentary about his miraculous surgeries. 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. This was, I didn't even know what to say. 5. After sweeping Alexander off her feet by taking her to jet-setting and romantic locales all over the world for months, Macchiarini proposed. 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. My daughter who, you know, has been through a lot. Its so damaging. If I had a checklist, he, he was everything I would want in a partner, everything you would want in a man. And I said, "Well what are we going to do?" [00:32:33] Matthew Christopher: (laugh) She said to me as I um, she said to me, "Well, Matthew, (or team)" she goes, "Well, I'm getting married by the Pope." Yeah. He was incredibly generous, you know, and so romantic and just so wonderful. Meanwhile, the investigation into Macchiarini's professional life was ramping up -- the Karolinska Institute was investigating whether he'd fabricated aspects of his medical research. She said she'd never fantasized about a "Prince Charming." again. And he was not doing well, and I was really struggling with the fact that I was about to become a single mother. We have somebody who has been brave enough to share something thats already humiliating and devastating. I mean it was, I felt butterflies, you know. Benita Alexanders personal life story was part of the documentary film, He Lied About Everything. Fans can also watch He Lied About Everything on InvestigationDiscovery.com. They become engaged and plan a lavish dream wedding, to be attended by celebrities and officiated by none other than Pope Francis himself. It was killing me, and but I was also so in love with him. She finds that story in South Korea. Although her family said the injury wasn't serious enough to necessitate a tracheal transplant, she still underwent the procedure and went on to experience tremendous pain. [00:02:26] Bob: I remember walking into 30 Rock thinking it was the equivalent of walking into Yankee Stadium or something. That was insane. Prior to this, Benita spent 17 years in network television, producing long-form documentaries, breaking news, investigations, specials and hard news features for NBC. Looking for challenges, and we found this doctor married 20 couples in the Vatican motorcycle away the! Who are simultaneously uh impressive but uncomfortable I never thought I would do, she. So many twists and turns that well, you 've, you know and it a. 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