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But on the afternoon that she met him, a day before she was supposed to begin filming him, something happened that gave her pause. Then, just before New Year's Eve, he left the U.S., telling Alexander that he had a "really important surgery" to perform. 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. 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. Together, they'd spend long weekends traveling to different countries, like Mexico, Russia and Greece. She was floored when he told her John Legend would sing at their wedding and Pope Francis would officiate. A presence. For other inquiries, Contact Us. She soon discovered that as she lived an apparent fairy tale romance -- with someone who not only seemed to care for her and her daughter but also lavished her with expensive gifts and trips -- others were already searching for the truth about Macchiarini. "From that moment on, it felt like my head was spinning," Alexander said, "and it didn't stop spinning.". Come on. I thought he was playing some kind of silly game with me. Um, it hit all of us very, very hard. And, and then he would tell me the priest won't marry us, and this went on and on and on. Gerdin also said Macchiarini had failed to obtain ethical permits to perform the transplants, which he said amounted to experimentation on human subjects. News Group Newspapers Limited in England No. [00:30:47] Benita: It was all very hush-hush, you know, everybody that was involved in the wedding planning, including the people that designed the wedding invitations, the people that made my wedding dresses, everybody had to just, had to sign nondisclosure agreements. The documentary includes never-before-seen footage and photos and shows Alexanders search for the truth after such a shocking betrayal of the heart. [00:19:53] Bob: While the romance is intense, it's also very secretive. ABC7's Dallas Raines explains the difference, Jury selection begins for convicted torturer accused of escaping jail. But Macchiarini showered her in flowers and jewelry. [00:23:44] Bo Lindquist: Paolo was very well-dressed and very careful with his looks. How to tell her, how to get her through this, and how is life going to change for her, and what does this mean for me? And we first met in early 2013. Her purpose for doing so is simple; to not only move on but also build a safe community for survivors like her a place where theres self-healing through sharing and unconditional support. Despite her work ethic, she fell in love with Macchiarini. I love some pressure, let's go for it. 5 People Vanished Along the Snake River Beginning in 1979: Will Police Finally Catch a Serial Killer? NBC News is pulling "A Leap of Faith" Meredith Vieira's documentary on controversial . And this trip had been planned for a very long time. He says to me, "I want to take over the wedding planning and I want to surprise you with everything. Paolo Macchiarini proposes to Benita Alexander before leaving US for work: Part 2Alexander seemed to be living a fantasy lifestyle. After relocating to New York, Benita worked for NBC and was featured in NBC's documentary "A Leap of Faith" in 2013. [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. Benita has spoken about her experience in numerous national and international TV and radio programs. And I got so irritated with him, I actually hung the phone up on him. 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. Three months later, the Karolinska Institute ruled that while Macchiarini did not always rise to the level of its standards, he had not committed scientific misconduct. "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. 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. [00:06:46] Benita: And he was, as I said, called the super surgeon, and he was the pioneer in this field. Macchiarini claims the synthetic trachea didn't shorten Tuulik's life or the lives of any of his other patients, or cause their deaths. 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. [00:35:25] Matthew Christopher: Um, gosh, 1-2-3 for her. They had already decided to marry in Italy, where Macchiarini wanted a Catholic wedding despite rules against remarriages. Benita has to keep a secret. "I wanted to get all the information that I could before I really confronted him.". And basically giving up everything. Benita Alexander thought she had found her modern day Prince Charming. You know the, the invitations talked about needing a password, a secret password to get into the wedding, and you couldn't get in unless you had the invitation with you. [00:17:51] Bob: Their relationship blossoms quickly. And Paolo had said to me, "You, you need to find a way to say good-bye to him," and he said, "I'll help you." 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. The Pope doesnt marry people. I mean it was, I felt butterflies, you know. On the back of his motorcycle, he drove her along the Illinois River until they found a place where she could memorialize her ex-husband. My daughter who, you know, has been through a lot. [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. So it was scary. Anyone that knows anything about private schools in New York knows how hard that is. You know, "You've, you've renewed my faith in love.". If I had a checklist, he, he was everything I would want in a partner, everything you would want in a man. So this is a lot of very heady information to take in, and he basically tells me that because hes the Popes private, personal doctor, um, and because this is such a progressive Pope, who has such a forward-thinking agenda, that the Pope a) wants to thank him for all the work hes done at the Vatican and for being his private doctor, and b) wants to use us for lack of a better term, as kind of a poster couple, so that by marrying two divorcees, you know, the Pope is going to use us to sort of open the doors of the Catholic church to allow divorcees to finally get married in a Catholic church. Documentary producer Benita Alexander thought it was love when her job introduced her to internationally renowned surgeon Paolo Macchiarini. Megan Hilty on the Tony's, like she got best dress, or Debra Messing, or you know, Carli Lloyd, like the whole soccer team coming in, I'm dressing Carli Lloyd for all these, for the ESPYs, and, you know, all these amazing people that I've dressed over the years, even the Oscars and I'm, I mean it's going wow, I made it to where I love what I do. Six years later, in 2009, they filed for divorce. 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. It was going to be this four-day event in Rome, you know, with a red carpet event the night before the wedding, and a big brunch the day after the wedding, and people bought plane tickets, they bought fancy, you know, red carpet attire for this wedding. Subtle message to him, perhaps. So he was very interesting and very fascinating and also because he was a pioneer, and he was pushing the envelope, you know, he was a little bit, a little bit radical, but doing, he was taking chances that nobody else would, and we actually need people like that in medicine. "None of these people were coming," Benita said she tragically discovered. 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. This is totally different. You know, part of it is you meet so many different people that you would never meet otherwise, but when you can tell a story that actually makes a difference in someone's life, that, to me, that's one of the most beautiful things about journalism. And so I was sort of, by becoming involved with him and by falling in love with him, I was breaking this cardinal rule in journalism that you don't get involved with a subject of your story, and even though when we did fall in love, it was, we were at the end of the production of the story, we kept it quiet because of that. His six papers on the transplant surgery were retracted. He soon proposed, only for her to realize her fianc was a complete liar around a year later. In 2019, the film was nominated in the documentary category for the WIN Awards, Women's Image Network. The couple shares a daughter named Jessina, born in 2003. "The woman in Barcelona was not his wife. 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. 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. With the preparations nearly finished, Benita decides to take maybe the toughest step she's ever taken in her 20-year career as a journalist. Alexander didn't initially believe him, but she said Macchiarini told her that the pope wanted to push forward his progressive agenda for the church. 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. I loved my work at NBC. But Bo at the time had no idea who it was. So this is not really out of the realm of possibility that he would have contacts at the Vatican. We had a long time together on the flight from Korea to Illinois. His work, if controversial, is also groundbreaking. Meanwhile, the doctors were still trying to save Cetir's life. 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. There was no evidence the Obamas had heard of him, either. TV producer's romance with star surgeon begins against better judgment: Part 1Benita Alexander met Paolo Macchiarini while covering his pioneering work for a. In addition to her work at NBC, she was the Executive Producer of the Oxygen documentary, "Seduced by Evil," which premiered in 2019 and reveals how a group of women banded together to take down the man who stole everything from them. Benita is still wearing the second ring throughout the documentary! [00:09:12] Bob: And so, Benita travels to Boston to meet the miracle worker for herself. [00:31:42] Matthew Christopher: Yeah, I do, you know, I've done tons of celebrity stuff, tons of Broadway stuff. She graduated magna cum laude from WSU with a degree in journalism in 1987. Documentary Two-hour special that investigates the perfect engagement gone wrong between Emmy award-winning journalist, Benita Alexander, and the internationally acclaimed surgeon, Dr. Paolo Macchiarini. "He seemed like he was the miracle man," she said. How to, what do we do now? And it came down to how are we going to accomplish doing all these pieces for this wedding that is going to be so high profile, so exclusive, I mean I've never heard of anything so, it was, I mean in my career I've experienced some great things; this was wow. A post shared by Benita Alexander (@loveconned). 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. You'll start receiving the latest news, benefits, events, and programs related to AARP's mission to empower people to choose how they live as they age. But, she said he was in a "foul mood" the entire time they were there as he dealt with the continuing fallout from the allegations. Benita and Macchiarini's wild relationship was featured in a special episode of ABC's 20/20 on Friday. '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. Macchiarini had reported that after his first patient underwent the procedure, a healthy trachea was beginning to develop, Lindquist said. Since her romance with Paolo imploded in 2015, the brunette beauty has continued working on documentaries and docuseries'. You know he loves to surprise you. ET on ABC. 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. [00:33:44] Bob: And you, you had outfitted Broadway stars, famous people, but even for you this was a big deal. As these events were unfolding, Maccharini allowed Lindquist to follow him for a documentary film. Maybe help me, help with the invitations 'cause I don't want to deal with that. receive communications related to AARP volunteering. "I talked to my editors and we started thinking, 'Well, let's just keep pulling on this thread. Alexander felt compelled to cancel the wedding, yet while she tried to figure out the extent to which Macchiarini had lied, she said she let him think they would still marry one day. [00:06:37] Bob: Dr. Paolo Macchiarini, he's doing surgeries that most doctors could only dream about. He was incredibly generous, you know, and so romantic and just so wonderful. She was taking an incredible risk by getting involved with Paolo. [00:02:15] Bob: Still a young journalist, she found her way to the top of her profession very quickly. Cetir came to Macchiarini's attention after undergoing an elective procedure to correct a condition that caused excessive sweating. 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. She couldn't run around and play. 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. But our guest list was insane because now that the Pope was marrying us, he kept inviting all these dignitaries, you know, so world leaders were coming to our wedding. 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. They live in the same area outside Florence. (Pasadena, Calif.) - This Valentine's Day, Investigation Discovery (ID) presents a love story gone wrong with HE LIED ABOUT EVERYTHING, the astonishing true tale of the love affair between award-winning investigative news producer Benita Alexander, and the brilliant, world-renowned surgeon Paolo Macchiarini.What started as a picture-perfect dream relationship between two people at the . Use tab to navigate through the menu items. The Love Con: Directed by Star Price. Hearings are expected to begin in 2022. 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. 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 hired Bengt Gerdin, a professor at Uppsala University in Sweden, who spent six months examining some of Macchiarini's papers for evidence of research misconduct and in May 2015 determined that he was guilty, writing in his report that Macchiarini had made false claims about his patients' conditions improving, failed to report severe complications in some patients and made it seem as if some patients had been healthier for longer than they'd actually been following their surgeries. 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