You know, it was awful for her family. He says to me, "I want to take over the wedding planning and I want to surprise you with everything. If you want to tell somebody's story well, it, it helps if you can really tell it from their perspective. to search for ways to make a difference in your community at They become engaged and plan a lavish dream wedding, to be attended by celebrities and officiated by none other than Pope Francis himself. [00:15:45] Benita: There was a particular moment when my ex-husband had gone into a coma, and I was in Illinois, and I was, I was um, very upset about everything and trying to figure out a way, I was talking to Paolo about trying to figure out what to do and how to say goodbye, and uh crying about the fact that I hadn't been able to say goodbye. Yeah. [00:25:58] Bo Lindquist: I think he liked the challenge. [00:23:14] Bo Lindquist: And then we traveled to different places. Are you new to podcasts? Well actually, dresses. 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. A JOURNALIST revealed the chilling clue that disclosed her lover and famed surgeon as a "romance scammer.". She is an executive producer, narrator, writer and director known for her work in the true crime genre. Alexander was working on a documentary about Macchiarinis success in the medical field. 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. Her multiple awards include: Edward R. Murrow, 2 Emmys, 7 Emmy nominations, Alfred I. duPont-Columbia, NABJ and Sigma Delta Chi. He's also had his artificial trachea removed. [00:01:59] Benita: I had worked my way up from working in, from tiny little newspapers in Detroit, Michigan, which is where I went to college and where I'd, my family had moved after Australia. [00:36:44] Bob: I feel like there's some people you meet who are simultaneously uh impressive but uncomfortable. She finds that story in South Korea. Cetir came to Macchiarini's attention after undergoing an elective procedure to correct a condition that caused excessive sweating. Alexander was assigned to work on the documentary about Paolo Macchiarini who has considered a pioneer in organ transplant. Hosted by Benita Alexander. He was speaking at a conference in Boston, and we went there to interview him, sort of ahead of Hannah coming to the US, about his work and about Hannah. Quack, quack, quack. She was able to get the Vatican to verify that he had never been the pope's personal doctor. "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. [00:37:05] Benita: Everything was very, very secretive, and because the Pope was doing this, um, and Paolo told me that the Vatican would not even announce it until the day of our wedding so that the news didn't leak out. Her mother was Korean, and her dad, Canadian. [00:31:07] Bob: But what is a couture wedding gown designer? When Benita discovers that her fiance is not who he claims to be, she goes on an emotional journey to unravel a trail of destruction that leaves patients dead and their shattered families in shock. She had spent her entire little life in the hospital, never left the hospital because she had a tube down her throat just to live. 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. In 2019, she produced the Oxygen doc Seduced By Evil, which chronicles another con-man, Derek Alldred. I was really taken back. 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. Wake up to the real world! And so we were looking into this field, and we found this doctor. Gerdin also said Macchiarini had failed to obtain ethical permits to perform the transplants, which he said amounted to experimentation on human subjects. I didn't even, I, I, I stopped in hesitation. [00:02:15] Bob: Still a young journalist, she found her way to the top of her profession very quickly. Benita's story is also told on BBCs Outlook" podcast. Benita is still wearing the second ring throughout the documentary! Subtitles English [CC] Audio languages English Buy Season 1 Benita Alexander-Noel was born on April 21, 1966 in Australia. 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. In October, 2020, her story was the premiere episode of ABC's primetime series, "The Con," hosted by Whoopi Goldberg. Then, two years later, her father, whod married a neighbor, asked her to pack up her bags and leave for good. It basically was, we've been asked to do this, and by virtue of being my fianc, because I'm this famous doctor, I feel that this is something we should do. "I went full on into investigator mode as I knew he wouldnt tell me the truth," Benita said. I was like why, why are you videotaping me again. What do they discover? [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. While Macchiarini continued to deny any wrongdoing, he lost his job at the Institute and Swedish prosecutors began looking into whether his behavior was criminal. I mean most 8-year-olds will change their minds, you know, many times, but I never changed. Benita Alexander is a strong, independent, intelligent, warm, and loving woman who thought she found her love connection with a man that swept her off her feet, much like prince charming! 5. [00:14:35] Benita: The thing about Paolo is he's a very good listener, and we, after a shoot sometimes, would go out to dinner, or we would be in a group of people talking. The group eventually grew into four doctors, who compared the journal reports Macchiarini had published about his procedure -- all of which reported relatively positive results -- to the actual medical records of those patients. In the months leading up to the airing of A Leap of Faith, in June 2014, Macchiarini and Alexander went on trips to the Bahamas, Turkey, Mexico, Greece, and Italy. "I put it all in a message. Benita was pursuing a big story when the ill-fated lovers met in 2013. The providers terms, conditions and policies apply. But the former NBC News producer would come to find out the hard way that even the most glamorous and convincing of appearances can be deceiving. He soon proposed, only for her to realize her fianc was a complete liar around a year later. Corbascio called the decision "absolutely insane.". She said she later sent a lengthy text message to him, and received a single-word response: "Wow! [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. 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. ", "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. [00:35:01] Matthew Christopher: No, no, just her friends who are so much fun. And I was raised Episcopalian, but I said, "I know, I know enough about the Catholic religion to know that no priest is going to marry two divorcees," and he, he, you know, he said, "Don't worry. Macchiarini and Benita quickly started planning an extravagant wedding, she said. He was listed as one of . Soon afterward, he took her on an "over the top" romantic trip to Italy, where they ate extravagant meals, went shopping and island hopped on a private boat, she said. Hundreds of Benita Alexander's friends and family had already bought their plane tickets to Italy to attend her extravagant wedding that was supposed to be officiated by the pope when it all came crashing down in a flurry of her fianc's deception. He responded wow,'" Benita claimed. I loved my life at NBC. Alexander, who said she'd become close to the girl's family, was "devastated," and that Macchiarini was "depressed" about it, as they both had become attached to her. She was taking an incredible risk by getting involved with Paolo. This very personal film, which Benita narrates herself, documents how her fairytale romance with a world-renowned surgeon turns into a nightmare. Meanwhile, the doctors were still trying to save Cetir's life. "That wasn't true. [00:32:14] Matthew Christopher: She actually came to my private showroom which was really cool, and um, I had my whole staff there, and we had to sign a nondisclosure agreement, and I was like, what is going on here? 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. I literally felt like I was floating on clouds. 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. She works in Rockefeller Center and flies all around the world, and on one of these trip, she meets the man of her dreams. [00:41:50] Benita: The day after I quit my job, I got an email from a colleague and the headline just said, "The Pope." 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. [00:34:17] Bob: Well, at some point you transition from wow to okay, I've got to get to work on this, right? "He seemed like he was the miracle man," she said. 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. "I made a very strategic decision to start playing a cat-and-mouse game, basically," she said. Benita was also the Co-Executive Producer and narrator for the 2016 TLC documentary, Breaking the Silence," about sexual abuse. Use tab to navigate through the menu items. NBC News is pulling "A Leap of Faith" Meredith Vieira's documentary on controversial . In early 1982, shortly before her 16th birthday, Benita returned home from a sleepover to discover that her mother had left the family in the middle of the night. Alexander hired a private investigator to investigate all the secrets and lies about Macchiarini. "He comes around the corner, he looks right at me and in that second something happened. "The outcry was such that the Karolinska Institute had to do something," said Ritchie. Benita Alexander has been working as a Macchiarini at NBC News. [00:08:01] Bob: Benita knows she wants to do a special about Paolo's work, but she needs a story, a patient that viewers can follow from beginning to end. [00:30:37] Bob: So now that she's been told the Pope is involved, Benita has another secret to keep. ", Heartbroken, Alexander continued to discover more of Macchiarini's lies in the ensuing months. But when it comes to the wedding, Paolo takes the lead. She couldn't eat. View our online Press Pack. When her ex-husband died, Macchiarini helped Alexander cope. [00:09:18] Benita: Yeah, so we, we started focusing our story around Hannah and her family, and Hannah was actually, she was going to be the youngest person in the world to ever get one of his experimental transplants; the first toddler, and also the first patient to be operated on in the United States. It really affects you. [00:31:56] Bob: Benita sees a dress made by Christopher in a New York City store, but it isn't quite right. [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. [00:02:54] Bob: Benita focused on emotional stories, many involving children in tragic circumstances. Both have covered Macchiarini in their work. [00:10:16] Bob: And when they meet, well Benita is stunned by what happens. It's a very aggressive form of brain cancer. [00:19:03] Benita: (laugh) Yeah, yep, yeah. What started as dream relationship developed into a nightmare filled with lies and deceit. [00:19:53] Bob: While the romance is intense, it's also very secretive. We need to be pointing the finger at the con man.. That makes me crazy. She said one question was heavy on her mind: "Why did you do this to me, why would you do that to anybody? I said, I just, I can't do this. Give it to me. What started as dream relationship developed into a nightmare filled with lies and deceit. He was, he was just there when I needed somebody. Excellent place. Of the eight patients given artificial tracheas by Macchiarini, only one is still alive today. I, I had just, in that moment I didn't have the information yet, but I just knew he was lying about everything. 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. [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. Bo has begun asking questions about this medical miracle worker, so had some fellow researchers. Documentary producer Benita Alexander thought it was love when her job introduced her to internationally renowned surgeon Paolo Macchiarini. The documentary includes never-before-seen footage and photos and shows Alexanders search for the truth after such a shocking betrayal of the heart. Macchiarini.". Benita has to keep a secret. And I think I was even blushing. NEW YORK Dr Paolo Macchiarini, He Lied About Everything with Benita Alexander Armchair MBA 18K subscribers Join Subscribe 1.5K Share Save 128K views 2 years ago I chat with Benita Alexander. People could be dying because of this man, and therefore, I couldn't stay silent, I couldn't crawl under the covers. They set their wedding for 11 July 2015 in Rome. She found out exactly what hed lied about - and she said it was extensive. Firstly , on a personal observation , girl , you absolutely need a makeover. And so I did, you know, I sat back, and even when I was tempted to ask questions, I didn't. I don't know what I was. 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. www.aarp.org/volunteer. 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