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. On your mark, get set, go. Well actually, dresses. They had already decided to marry in Italy, where Macchiarini wanted a Catholic wedding despite rules against remarriages. [00:17:35] Benita: Around this time that my ex-husband, John, passed away, we became romantically involved. Um, you know, they come in and I'd say, "Welcome to your closet." What did he do this time?" [00:26:12] Bob: So while Bo follows Paolo around the world learning more about the miraculous procedures he is performing, Hannah's Story finally airs on NBC. They become engaged and plan a lavish dream wedding, to be attended by celebrities and officiated by none other than Pope Francis himself. He actually brought him home on Christmas Day, and he and I are still in touch. [00:12:57] Bob: And there is another reason Benita must focus on her work at the time. And he said, he finally said, "Well, I'm going to go and talk to my contacts at the Vatican." Alexander was working on a documentary about Macchiarinis success in the medical field. You know, all these celebrities were coming. His work, if controversial, is also groundbreaking. Which sounds a bit absurd, however, he is an Italian surgeon. 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. [00:02:15] Bob: Still a young journalist, she found her way to the top of her profession very quickly. Macchiarini took Alexander to several romantic getaways in Europe. "The headline is that it started out as a beautiful love story and it ended up as a total nightmare," said Benita. When her ex-husband died, Macchiarini helped Alexander cope. [00:38:37] Bob: But even without asking any questions, one thing is clear, this wedding is going to be big. The famous surgeon, a miracle worker who gives hope to hopeless patients, who's rewriting the rules of medicine. Paolo Macchiarini proposes to Benita Alexander before leaving US for work: Part 2Alexander seemed to be living a fantasy lifestyle. She was floored when he told her John Legend would sing at their wedding and Pope Francis would officiate. [00:25:22] Bob: And while Paolo loves to talk about his work, he isn't always charming. "He was a top doctor, he spoke six or seven languages. 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. [00:23:20] Bob: Bo also spent many months following Paolo around the world, getting to know him, getting Paolo to open up to him. Cetir died waiting for the lung transplant she desperately needed. Hosted by Benita Alexander. Please return to AARP.org to learn more about other benefits. The 56-year-old actually has a podcast appropriately titled Benita & the Berracas for the same, and she continues to be an active advocate on the matter. Alexander was assigned to work on the documentary about Paolo Macchiarini who has considered a pioneer in organ transplant. The providers terms, conditions and policies apply. [00:21:22] Benita: Tragically, Hannah passed away, which was, um, just devastating. And each surprise was a bigger wow factor than the last one. 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 just, I felt like somebody punched me in the stomach. ABC7's Dallas Raines explains the difference, Jury selection begins for convicted torturer accused of escaping jail. We had been divorced for a couple of years at that point and for three years, and he was diagnosed with glioblastoma which is a very, there's no good kind of cancer, no good kind of brain cancer, but the, you know, the outlook is not good, you know they, they kind of give someone two years at the most. again. See the shocking new details about Paolo Macchiarini's alleged medical crimes, new interviews and new revelations Friday on "20/20" at 9 p.m. 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. You know, it was awful for her family. 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. 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. "The surgeons in Turkey tried to repair it and there were some complications," said Rosemary Pinto, a personal injury lawyer later hired by Cetir's family. 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. 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. Reality struck Alexander's fantasy romance eight weeks before she was supposed to marry Macchiarini in 2015, when she received an email from a colleague with the subject line saying, "The Pope.". Javascript must be enabled to use this site. 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. I was blissfully happy. [00:10:23] Benita: Yeah, the thing about this was, I am, and I'm, I'm very serious when I work. But Benita's intuition overtook her and she hired a private investigator to look into the surreal wedding. "It said that he had a normal functioning airway," Corbascio said. (chuckle). She graduated magna cum laude from WSU with a degree in journalism in 1987. 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. receive communications related to AARP volunteering. 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. In 2013, she was featured in the NBC documentary "A Leap of Faith." She has won numerous awards for her work. Of the eight patients given artificial tracheas by Macchiarini, only one is still alive today. Um, it hit all of us very, very hard. Since her romance with Paolo imploded in 2015, the brunette beauty has continued working on documentaries and docuseries'. 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. But everything else, I'm planning everything, and you can't ask me any questions.". Her mother was Korean, and her dad, Canadian. 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 surgeon's pioneering w Show more. A new two-hour "20/20" reports on Benita Alexander, a television producer who fell head over heels in love with world-renowned surgeon Paolo Macchiarini while producing a report on his revolutionary new surgery technique. Creating artificial body parts. As a producer, for me that was next to impossible. The couple had the wedding planned for July 2015. Nothing anybody could do for her, and then like so many of Dr. Paolo Macchiarini's patients, they did a google search and found this kind of a magician of a surgeon who said I can help your little girl. Paolo Macchiarini (born 22 August 1958): 2 is a Swiss-born Italian thoracic surgeon and former regenerative medicine researcher who became known for research fraud and manipulative behavior. She said she'd never fantasized about a "Prince Charming." [00:11:55] Bob: And how old were you then? News Group Newspapers Limited in England No. In fact, the scientist was embroiled in lawsuits and accusations at work. Corbascio called the decision "absolutely insane.". So just under two months before the wedding, and it was just difficult. 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? Benita Alexander is an American television producer, director, writer, and reporter. 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 then in radio, producing a radio talk show, and then in local television. Where is Benita Alexander now? But on the afternoon that she met him, a day before she was supposed to begin filming him, something happened that gave her pause. Benita now uses her personal story of survival and resilience to help other women who have been love conned find the road to recovery. In 2019, she produced the Oxygen doc Seduced By Evil, which chronicles another con-man, Derek Alldred. As these events were unfolding, Maccharini allowed Lindquist to follow him for a documentary film. Her first marriage was to fellow journalist John Noel. So first it was about the wedding gown itself. [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. Firstly , on a personal observation , girl , you absolutely need a makeover. It defeats the point, Benita recently said. And after he left, I said to my parents, that's what I'm going to do when I grow up. Macchiarini.". [00:31:04] Matthew Christopher: I'm a couture wedding gown designer. He wrote love notes in lipstick on her mirror and left roses on the bed in the shape of hearts. [00:24:37] Bob: Paolo is a natural subject for a documentary film. You know, no, how do we take viewers through a two-hour journey of this little girl coming, you know, halfway across the world to get this radical surgery, and then she doesn't make it? [00:42:58] Bob: If you have been targeted by a scam or fraud, you are not alone. At the time, Macchiarini was employed by the prestigious Karolinska Institute in Sweden. I mean I'm going to achieve this; you know what I mean? If you want to tell somebody's story well, it, it helps if you can really tell it from their perspective. Benita Alexander has been married twice. "Paolo was a really good listener," Alexander said. [00:31:32] Bob: I mean that sounds like a very special process. Benita and Macchiarini's wild relationship was featured in a special episode of ABC's 20/20 on Friday. ET. But the biopsies showed the cells were dead and that there was actually fungi growing on the plastic, he said. In July 2015 their "cat and mouse game" came to an end when she revealed to him everything she found through the private investigation. How do we, how do we tell this story? I had to expose him.". View this post on Instagram 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. [00:31:00] Bob: One of those nondisclosure agreements is signed by Matthew Christopher. [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. 5. I also believe that exposing what happened, and exposing him, might keep him from hurting others. [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. 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. Among several lies, Macchiarini told Alexander, one of those was Pope Francis officiating their wedding. She said one question was heavy on her mind: "Why did you do this to me, why would you do that to anybody? 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