paolo macchiarini wife
Benita Alexander, a TV producer, was set to ally the doc of her dreams in 2015 in a lavish ceremony officiated by Pope Francis. In her new documentary, "He Lied Nigh Everything" (airing Wednesday on Investigation Discovery) she explains that the human relationship was a con. Hither, the Brooklynite tells Jane Ridley how her ex, Italian surgeon Paolo Macchiarini, left behind a trail of deception — and death.
Taking a deep breath, I pulled my engagement ring out of my pocket and hurled it into the Hudson River. That moment in January was my closure on 3 years of heartache.
It's embarrassing, but I was taken in by Paolo. Like his patients — many of whom ended up expressionless — I was seduced past a simulated promise.
We met in February 2013 when I worked for NBC and he was the subject area of a Television receiver special well-nigh how he had developed the science of artificial trachea transplants.
I'one thousand not a believer in dearest at showtime sight. But the second our optics locked, that's what information technology felt like. At the time, I was in a vulnerable land. My ex-married man — the father of my daughter, then ix — was dying of brain cancer. Paolo counseled me on what to say to my girl.
Afterwards a few months of friendship, things became romantic. Nosotros vacationed in Venice, Italy, and drank Champagne in a gondola. But I worried about my career, as I'm not supposed to get close to my subjects.
"We're going to have to wait until the [NBC] story is over," I told him.
We were apart for ii months. But that September, I had surgery for uterine fibroids. He insisted on flying to New York from Europe and arrived at Lenox Hill Hospital with a unmarried scarlet rose, charming my mother every bit much every bit he charmed me. This wasn't some idle fling.
Paolo proposed on Christmas 24-hour interval, 2013, with a $100,000 diamond ring.
Past then, I had a new job at NBC and was very stressed. Paolo said, "I want to surprise yous with a wedding ceremony in Italy. Only find your apparel. I will program everything else."
Paolo was contracted past the Karolinska Found in Sweden — which awards the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine — and told me that many of his patients were VIPs, including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. In fact, he said, the Clintons would be coming to the wedding.
He was insistent on a Catholic service, even though we were both divorcees. His friends at the Vatican would "help."
"I concluded up meeting with Pope Francis and he likes me and the piece of work I am doing," he said. "He offered to marry us himself."
"Requite me a f–king break," I replied. "You lot are pulling my leg."
Paolo explained that the pope, who was some other patient of his, wanted to use us as the poster couple to button the church out of old traditions.
The plan was for Francis to marry u.s.a. at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, on July 11, 2015. Nosotros sent out "Relieve the Dates." Vladimir Putin was on the list, since Paolo was doing a medical trial in Russia funded by their government. Barack and Michelle Obama were also invited. I spent $10,000 on 300 embossed invitations wrapped in lambskin.
Paolo kept slipping details: Elton John was going to play at a party the night before. Andrea Bocelli and John Legend would perform at the wedding.
But around Thanksgiving 2014, Paolo confessed that doctors at the Karolinska Constitute had accused him of scientific misconduct, claiming he lied near the success of his treatment.
"I am being unfairly attacked," he said. "They are jealous."
In May 2015, 2 months before the wedding, it all imploded. One day later on I resigned from NBC to motion to Paolo's dwelling house in Barcelona, I got an east-mail from a friend — a news story showing that Pope Francis would be in South America the same day as our hymeneals.
I demanded an explanation from Paolo. He claimed internal politics were rife at the Vatican and the pope'south progressive plan had been "undermined." When I contacted the Italian castle where he had supposedly booked guest rooms, nobody in that location knew Paolo's name.
I confronted him the weekend of May 22, the last fourth dimension I would ever come across him. "Of form the castle staff wouldn't tell you anything," he said. "The Secret Service and the Swiss Guard are involved because of all the VIPs." He then claimed that his surgeon status was a cover for him existence a CIA operative.
I called a individual investigator the moment he left. Soon, I learned that Paolo was all the same married to his wife of 29 years — and living in Barcelona with a second woman and two young children.
More details emerged: 7 of the eight patients who received 1 of his synthetic trachea transplants had died. In 2016, Paolo was under investigation by Swedish prosecutors on suspicion of manslaughter and grievous bodily damage related to 3 patient deaths in that state. A yr later, information technology was announced that he had been negligent in all the cases, but that a crime could not exist proven considering the patients might have died anyway. The example is under appeal, and he is still licensed to do medicine in Europe.
(Macchiarini's lawyer did not return requests for comment.)
Concluding month, I had the band that Paolo gave me appraised. The supposed $100,000 diamond had a re-sale value of $ane,000. When I threw it into the river, I recalled the brief phone chat when I spoke to him for my upcoming documentary. All he said was: "I'1000 sorry for everything." But in that location was no empathy.
Source: https://nypost.com/2018/02/10/my-fiance-was-a-conman-who-left-death-in-his-wake/
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