You will be asked to register or log in. And that frees up Benita to go public about their relationship. "I have some really high-powered clients," she said he told her. [00:35:53] Bob: And while the dresses are being made, while the other wedding preparations are underway, Matthew meets Paolo. They make it for you in the lab, right. Best Known For For her appearance in ID Now (2017), Dateline NBC (1992) and Inside the Obama White House (2009). If I had a checklist, he, he was everything I would want in a partner, everything you would want in a man. 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. 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. Where is Benita Alexander now? And, and, and embraced me and held me so hard. [00:36:55] Bob: Benita, the TV producer, is very used to managing all the details of a big event. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. I mean I, I loved NBC. Please return to AARP.org to learn more about other benefits. Oh, and a dance gown too, that was crazy fun. Benita and Macchiarini's wild relationship was featured in a special episode of ABC's 20/20 on Friday. Star-Studded Wedding Becomes Brides Worst Nightmare, Part 1, Journalist exposes her celebrity fianc, part 2, Computer hacker drains couple's life savings. "He comes around the corner, he looks right at me and in that second something happened. Benita was also the Co-Executive Producer and narrator for the 2016 TLC documentary, "Breaking the Silence," about sexual abuse. Death." Lindquist said the documentary sparked outrage in Sweden, and weeks later, new investigations into Macchiarini began. Her first marriage was to fellow journalist John Noel. [00:31:56] Bob: Benita sees a dress made by Christopher in a New York City store, but it isn't quite right. And each surprise was a bigger wow factor than the last one. I did not think that by pulling that thread, we would completely undo the sweater.". You know, it was awful for her family. Meanwhile, the doctors were still trying to save Cetir's life. He wrote love notes in lipstick on her mirror and left roses on the bed in the shape of hearts. [00:11:57] Benita: Ooh, you're going to make me do math. That makes me crazy. I was, I was conflicted about it. Come on. I thought he was playing some kind of silly game with me. 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. Macchiarini had been credited with developing innovative surgical techniques using stem cells in synthetic trachea transplants. Macchiarini remains married to Emanuela Pecchia, his wife of nearly 30 years. 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. The emotions of the moment overwhelm her. And I was really wrestling with all of it. I, I thought it was ridiculous. But this magic carpet ride takes so many twists and turns that well, you just have to hear them for yourself. In October, 2020, her story was the premiere episode of ABC's primetime series, "The Con," hosted by Whoopi Goldberg. He was often described as a George Clooney look-alike, you know, he's, he's very elegant. This was holy cow. 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. [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? 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. Eventually, she died. And so I thought, okay, maybe its not as crazy as it, as it sounds. 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. The personal relationship between Alexander and Macchiarini continued to blossom. It's, it's a very um, it has a lot of stature, that building and a lot of meaning. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? I don't want you to do anything except find your dresses and just, all you have to do is show up and look beautiful. Yeah. From what we can tell, Benita still resides in New York alongside her daughter, where shes primarily a freelance executive producer for Lion Television, all the while serving as a public figure. 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. A JOURNALIST revealed the chilling clue that disclosed her lover and famed surgeon as a "romance scammer.". [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. The Perfect ScamSMis a project of theAARP Fraud Watch Network, which equips consumers like you with the knowledge to give you power over scams. After doing her own research, Alexander found that Pope Francis had just married 20 couples and began to believe it was possible after all. He was a flair for the dramatic and plans one romantic encounter after another. But when it comes to the wedding, Paolo takes the lead. 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. She did what she had to but never let it take over her life, which in turn helped her graduate magna cum laude from Wayne State University in 1987. He says to me, "I want to take over the wedding planning and I want to surprise you with everything. And so does anyone who has anything to do with the wedding. And, and so we pivoted the story a bit to make it a little bit more about some of Paolo's other patients and more about, you know the field of regenerative medicine. NBC News is pulling "A Leap of Faith" Meredith Vieira's documentary on controversial . 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). Macchiarini denied the accusations coming from his colleagues at the Karolinska Institute to Alexander, and she doubled down on supporting Macchiarini. [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. Documentary producer Benita Alexander thought it was love when her job introduced her to internationally renowned surgeon Paolo Macchiarini. 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? I'm your host, Bob Sullivan. By what name was He Lied About Everything (2018) officially released in Canada in English? [00:35:25] Matthew Christopher: Um, gosh, 1-2-3 for her. On what was supposed to be the day of her wedding, Alexander flew to Rome, where she eventually met others who'd kept their travel plans. Maybe help me, help with the invitations 'cause I don't want to deal with that. 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. ID gives the viewer the opportunity to experience this along with Benita the highs and the lows and to discover, along with her, howhe lied about everything, says Henry Schleiff, Group President of Investigation Discovery, Destination America and American Heroes Channel in a press release about the documentary. 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. Yeah. 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. The true tale of the love affair between award-winning investigative producer Benita Alexander and world-renowned surgeon Paolo Macchiarini. 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. I'm never viewed like that, but I was definitely like, huh? You know, the equivalent of going to a drugstore and buying whatever, you, they, the idea is ultimately we'll get to the point that, you know, you have a failing organ or you lose a body part, you just order up a new one. [00:36:07] Matthew Christopher: Confident, rico-suave, I am Paolo, ha-ha, and I'm like, okay, you know, I'm like am I nervous? He, he had sort of slowly moved his way into my heart and I, I think I just really needed to be wrapped in love at the time, and I, yeah, we fell in love. Um, I almost actually passed out. Some even believed he'd win a Nobel Prize one day, according to author Stuart Ritchie. I want to focus on work. And he came to visit us in Australia, and I was just, I was only 8, but I was ab--, absolutely infatuated with what he was doing and asked him all these questions. [00:31:42] Matthew Christopher: Yeah, I do, you know, I've done tons of celebrity stuff, tons of Broadway stuff. I was blissfully happy. Free online workshop! As a journalist, Alexander knew she couldn't get involved with the subject of her story. [00:36:44] Bob: I feel like there's some people you meet who are simultaneously uh impressive but uncomfortable. 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. [00:24:20] Bo Lindquist: When we made our initial agreement to, to start filming, he said that his uh, personal life would be out of bounds, and I mean a bit odd that, that we couldn't even talk about where he went to school or, or something like that, but why should we? For more compelling true crime coverage, follow our Crime magazine on Flipboard. What started as dream relationship developed into a nightmare filled with lies and deceit. But there was something, yeah, something happened between us the, the moment we met. And whatever that is, let's, let's push that away, you know. "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 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. How does one design a wedding dress for a wedding [00:34:25] Matthew Christopher: With the Pope? [00:02:15] Bob: Still a young journalist, she found her way to the top of her profession very quickly. It wasnt surprising being a surgeon in Italy. Maybe help me, help with the invitations 'cause I don't want to deal with that. "Then he said he had connections to the Vatican. Alexander is well-known for her career in production and film and was also in a relationship scam that made headlines and fueled her documentary, "He Lied About Everything." This is a surgeon. [00:02:31] Benita: Yeah, right! [00:18:02] Benita: Oh, there was so many. The two-part special He Lied About Everything premieres on ID on Wednesday, Feb. 14 from 8 to 10 p.m. "The Experiments" told the stories of some of Maccharini's patients, including young mother Julia Tuulik, who damaged her trachea in a car accident. 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. 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. But before the wedding can happen, Benita makes a discovery that may prove the doctor is not all he claims to be. [00:25:28] Bo Lindquist: He was definitely prone to getting angry and, and could be quite violently. TV & Film Producer, Director, Writer, Correspondent, Narrator. As these events were unfolding, Maccharini allowed Lindquist to follow him for a documentary film. You know he loves to surprise you. He was put on trial after his patients reportedly suffered bodily harm during his experimental surgeries but he always denied any criminal wrongdoing. He was giving people who had no other hope. 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. It was eight months later when they became properly engaged after Macchiarini presented her with a $100K ring. 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. Famous For Being an American actress and producer. And he had been fighting with her in the courts in Brazil over this, and then she passed away, unfortunately. The slip from "Prince Charming to pathological liar" took place over just two years, she said. "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.". [00:19:01] Bob: It's just making it harder for every man in the world. I found him very um, hmm, he had a presence about him. Perfect. Benita Alexander has everything going for her. [00:06:46] Benita: And he was, as I said, called the super surgeon, and he was the pioneer in this field. [00:24:45] Bo Lindquist: I mean he basically said that he was going to revolutionize medicine, and, and not just invent a new kind of a trachea or a new kind of transplant, but actually revolutionize surgery. 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. Benita Alexander, an award-winning documentary television producer and single mother, shares her story in ABC's "The Con." ABC News At the time, Macchiarini was employed by the prestigious Karolinska Institute in Sweden. I was so conflicted about it. Alexander said that day marked the beginning of their relationship. 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