Her film "He Lied About Everything," about her own personal story with a con man, aired on Investigation Discovery in 2018 and continues to air around the world. [00:06:46] Benita: And he was, as I said, called the super surgeon, and he was the pioneer in this field. 'People Magazine Investigates' Features Man's 24-Year Wrongful Prison Sentence: 'Never Thought It Could Happen', Revisit PEOPLE's 2002 Conversation with Michael Peterson, Whose Wife's Death Inspired HBO Max's 'The Staircase', Witnesses Describe Horror of Buffalo Mass Shooting: 'I'll Have This in My Head for the Rest of My Life', Private Investigator Who Looked for Sherri Papini Speaks Out About Her Arrest: 'I've Been Hoaxed', Gabby Petito's Family Opens Up About Her Murder in New Peacock Documentary Watch the Trailer, Mom's Discovery of Son's Severed Head in Bucket Leads to Murder Charge for Wisconsin Woman, Roundtable Discussion on Gabby Petito's Death Spotlights Media's Coverage of Missing Persons Cases. A post shared by Benita Alexander (@loveconned). He proposed to Alexander on Christmas in 2013 and she said yes. Benita Alexander has been working as a Macchiarini at NBC News. People could be dying because of this man, and therefore, I couldn't stay silent, I couldn't crawl under the covers. He was listed as one of . And I tend to be a very empathetic kind of person, and I am very sensitive, and I care a lot about people and so I've always used that in journalism to really sort of get inside somebody else's shoes or, or their story. In fact, the scientist was embroiled in lawsuits and accusations at work. 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. You are no longer 21 !!! [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. 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. So I just found him very, I don't want to say intimidating, because intimidating's not the word. 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. [00:22:38] 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. [00:19:53] Bob: While the romance is intense, it's also very secretive. He was giving people who had no other hope. "We had to clear her throat basically every four to six hours, sort of 24 hours, seven days a week," said Oscar Simonson, a cardiothoracic surgeon who worked at the Karolinska Institute and its affiliated hospital at the time. They become engaged and plan a lavish dream wedding, to be attended by celebrities and officiated by none other than Pope Francis himself. After she called Macchiarini, furious about what she'd read, she began to wonder what else he might have lied about. And he was putting artificial tracheas, the windpipe, into patients. Benita Alexander is an American television producer, director, writer, and reporter. And I said, "Well what are we going to do?" A successful TV journalist, the single mother-of-one was interviewing him for a report on cutting-edge medicine. Macchiarini.". [00:34:42] Matthew Christopher: We were going to meet later, so we just discussed the idea and it started with the wedding gown itself, and then had dinner at her house, and made dinner, and it was fun, and we were discussing things and how all these pieces were going to grow. "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. [00:38:44] Benita: I should say this wedding turns into something akin to the wedding of the century. Firstly , on a personal observation , girl , you absolutely need a makeover. My then ex-husband, who I had moved to New York with and the father of our beautiful daughter, was dying of brain cancer. Hosted by Benita Alexander. [00:33:17] Bob: What he thinks is this is going to be an incredible challenge. For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click this link: thesun.co.uk/editorial-complaints/, Journalist Benita Alexander (right) has revealed chilling clues that disclosed her lover and famed surgeon Paolo Macchiarini as a "romance scammer", The two fell for each other when Benita was interviewing Macchiarini for a story, The couple planned a lavish wedding set to take place in 2015 that felt too good to be true after Macchiarini said the Pope would officiate it, Benita decided to hire a private investigator, which led to her discovering her famous surgeon lover was actually facing legal trouble over his innovative techniques, Benita said she left her job of 17 years to marry Macchiarini, Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). I'll take care of it." I think he needs to be behind bars. Death podcast. Where is Benita Alexander now? [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. He worked at the place that awards the Nobel Prize in Medicine, Karolinska Institute in Sweden, Stockholm, Sweden. She'd been in the intensive care unit in Turkey for three years, and her health was still deteriorating. 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. Just like, oh, the dance dress was crazy. He's also had his artificial trachea removed. She couldn't run around and play. And he, so his reputation sort of proceeds him, but when he walked in to where we were sitting that day, he, when he walked in, he looked right at me, and our eyes met, and I've never in my life had something like this happen to me before, but I, I felt like a silly, little schoolgirl. ", Heartbroken, Alexander continued to discover more of Macchiarini's lies in the ensuing months. Her colleague had sent an article that said the pope would not be in Rome, or even Italy, on the day of their wedding. But everything else, I'm planning everything, and you can't ask me any questions.". Some even believed he'd win a Nobel Prize one day, according to author Stuart Ritchie. 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. [00:12:41] Bob: And you went forward with that weekend pushing the feeling aside, right? [00:34:35] Bob: The first step is working with Benita on ideas for the wedding dress. I had tried, at one point I pushed him away, and we didn't see each other for about three months. I mean, I got this sort of chill through my body, like there was some sort of electric spark, and I remember, in my head, thinking, 'What the hell was that?'". "I put it all in a message. A contact she had to the Clintons told her they'd never heard of Macchiarini. Nobody, except my closest friends and family, knew about the Pope because we weren't allowed to talk about it, but they knew that was a big VIP wedding. [00:25:49] Bob: But, and this made him a fun interview, he doesn't mind debating his controversial techniques. Benita Alexander has everything going for her. 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. And he's getting noticed in the medical field. 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. Her multiple awards include: Edward R. Murrow, 2 Emmys, 7 Emmy nominations, Alfred I. duPont-Columbia, NABJ and Sigma Delta Chi. They make it for you in the lab, right. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy. Along the way he promises her a fairy tale wedding to be officiated by the Pope. And it was, it was things like this all the time. [00:17:35] Benita: Around this time that my ex-husband, John, passed away, we became romantically involved. [00:30:34] Bob: Now your wedding is a cause. 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. [00:35:38] Bob: I mean it sounds like that could cost an infinity if you wanted it to. Please enable Javascript in your browser and try 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. Oxygen.com interviews filmmaker and reporter Benita Alexander, an executive producer of the 90-minute documentary "Seduced by Evil," about con man Derek Alldred. Well actually, dresses. [00:04:33] Bob: But it also sounds like you get pretty, your stories are very emotional, and you get pretty involved in your subjects, right. I mean I'm going to achieve this; you know what I mean? It was magical. As a journalist, Alexander knew she couldn't get involved with the subject of her story. The Karolinska Institute commissioned an external investigation into the allegations. The couple divorced in 2009. The Pope doesnt marry people. [00:33:22] Matthew Christopher: Right. None of the promises Alexander said her fianc Paolo Macchiarini had made for their wedding day would come true. They became friends and over time she felt herself falling for him, despite her journalistic integrity impeding the romance. Then, two years later, her father, whod married a neighbor, asked her to pack up her bags and leave for good. And I made it to this point. I mean it was crazy. Benita Alexanders personal life story was part of the documentary film, He Lied About Everything. Elton John was going to be performing. 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. 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. She was 100% Daddy's Little Girl, and he utterly adored her. 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. 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. [00:33:44] Bob: And you, you had outfitted Broadway stars, famous people, but even for you this was a big deal. 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