10-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Ex-partner of disgraced surgeon reveals how his horrifying double life emerged
Writer and director Benita Alexander eventually went on to co-produce He Lied About Everything, a documentary based on her former lover's fall from grace.
An ex-partner of former stem cell surgeon Paolo Macchiarini thought she was living a real-life fairytale until she uncovered his dark web of lies.
Writer and director Benita Alexander eventually went on to co-produce He Lied About Everything, a documentary based on her former lover's fall from grace.
In 2023, Macchiarini was sentenced to two and a half years in prison by a Swedish court for aggravated assault against patients he treated.
The court found he had acted with criminal intent in his treatment of three patients who received trachea transplants while he was working at the Karolinska Institute.
The Mirror reports that all three patients died after suffering complications from the procedure. The court ruled that Macchiarini knew the surgeries were unlikely to succeed but disregarded the risks to the patients.
Macchiarini bypassed essential safety protocols: he conducted no animal testing, clinical trials, or safety reviews before implanting the synthetic tracheas into human patients. His team also allegedly failed to obtain government approvals for the artificial windpipes, chemicals, and stem cells used, and did not seek ethical clearance from Stockholm's review board.
One surviving patient, Yesim Cetir, reportedly spent three years in intensive care at Karolinska University Hospital and underwent nearly 200 surgeries.
Investigations by both the Karolinska Institute and Karolinska University Hospital later revealed that complications and patient deaths may have been intentionally concealed. Macchiarini also faced accusations of scientific misconduct from several colleagues.
In 2011, Macchiarini created the world's first artificial windpipe using a plastic trachea scaffold infused with a patient's own stem cells, aiming to prevent rejection of the transplanted organ.
As part of her job as a producer, Alexander arranged to meet Macchiarini at Boston's Mandarin Oriental hotel to discuss his work.
She later told The New York Post: 'I'm not a believer in love at first sight. But the second our eyes locked, that's what it felt like.'
Though their first meeting sparked romantic feelings, Alexander tried to keep their relationship professional at first. She was coping with her ex-husband's battle with an aggressive brain cancer, and Macchiarini was a steady support.
She said: 'He was an amazing friend to me during that time, and a solid, reliable pillar of strength.
'He spent hours listening to me talk about it all and offering gentle advice.'
By June 2013, the pair were in a relationship and on Christmas Day that year, Macchiarini proposed. Alexander happily accepted.
Shortly after, he told her he had to leave for an 'emergency VIP surgery' and claimed he was part of a secret circle of elite doctors treating figures like Bill and Hillary Clinton, Emperor Akihito of Japan, and President Obama, according to Vanity Fair.
Then, throughout 2014, Macchiarini teased extravagant nuptials, including a Catholic ceremony officiated by Pope Francis at the Vatican's summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, a four-day celebration, and performances by Andrea Bocelli and John Legend.
Alexander welcomed Macchiarini's offer to surprise her with an Italian wedding. She said: 'All I had to do was buy the dress.'
But in May 2015, the truth unravelled. Just as Alexander planned to move to Europe and quit her job, she received an email from a friend titled 'The Pope.' It linked to an article revealing Pope Francis would be in South America on their supposed wedding day.
She said: 'I demanded an explanation from Paolo. He claimed Vatican politics had interfered with the plans.'
But when she contacted the Italian castle where the wedding was allegedly booked, 'nobody there knew Paolo's name.'
She cancelled the wedding and hired a private investigator, who revealed Macchiarini was still married to his wife of 29 years — and living in Barcelona with another mistress and their two children.
'I just didn't want to put two and two together,' Alexander said. 'I didn't want Paolo to not be the man I believed him to be. I didn't want the fairy tale to end.'
The Vatican confirmed Pope Francis never knew Macchiarini or promised to officiate the wedding. Bocelli's wife also denied his involvement.
On what would have been their wedding weekend, Alexander, disguised in a blonde wig, and two friends confronted Macchiarini at his Barcelona home. A woman with two children emerged, confirming his deception.
'He was like an embarrassed schoolboy who had been caught,' friend Leigh McKenzie told Vanity Fair.
Alexander watched silently from the car, marking the definitive end of their relationship.
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