Benita Alexander is an American executive producer, narrator, writer, and director. She is the former fiancée of Paolo Macchiarini, a Swiss thoracic surgeon and former regenerative medicine researcher. Paul was accused of unethically performing experimental surgeries, including on relatively healthy patients.
Wiki/Biography
Benita Jane Alexander-Noel was born on Thursday, April 21, 1966, in Huntington Woods, Michigan, United States (age 57; as of 2023). Her zodiac sign is Taurus. She graduated magna cum laude from Wayne State University in Michigan in 1987 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.
appearance
Height (approximately): 5′ 5″
Hair color: black
Eye color: dark blue
family
Parents and siblings
Her father, Ralph B. Alexander, is a nuclear physicist and analyst at Rowan Technology Group in Chicago, and her mother, Sandra Atterber Sandra Attebury is a retired art teacher from Webster Elementary School and Stevenson High School in Livonia, Michigan. When Benita Alexander was 18, her father married Claudia Alexander. She is the stepdaughter of Claudia Alexander and Fred Atterbury.
husband and children
She married John Noel in 2003, and the couple gave birth to a daughter named Jessina that same year. In 2009, Benita Alexander and John Noel divorced. On October 18, 2012, she married Edson Ricardo Jeune, a freelance ballroom dancer and ballroom dance instructor in New York.
Benita Alexander and Edson Ricardo June
Relationships/Affairs
In 2013, Benita Alexander began dating Paolo Macchiarini, who was separated from his wife Emmanuela Pecchia at the time; however, their divorce was not legal at the time.
Paolo Macchiarini and Benita Alexander
fiancé
On December 25, 2013, Benita Alexander got engaged to her boyfriend Paolo Macchiarini. She planned a wedding in Rome on July 11, 2015; however, she canceled the wedding after Paul was deceived.
Photos from Paolo Macchiarini and Benita Alexander’s engagement day
religion
She was an Episcopalian.
Profession
In March 1998, she began working at Dateline NBC in New York. She creates stories and features in many different genres such as those on investigations, crime, consumer, breaking news and celebrity profiles. She has covered major events such as the 9/11 attacks in the United States and created major specials such as “Inside the White House” and the 10th anniversary of 9/11, winning multiple awards. Her investigative stories, such as one that uncovered an adoption scam in Guatemala, have won awards. In 2007, she served as weekend senior producer. In June 2014, she resigned from her position as senior producer at NBC Dateline. In June 2014, she began serving as executive producer of The Meredith Vieira Show. In August 2015, she served as co-executive producer and narrator of the TLC documentary Breaking the Silence, which explored the issue of sexual abuse. In March 2016, she joined Efran Films and has written, produced, and directed several TV series, including The Big Rewrite (2016), He Lies About Everything (2018), The Temptation of Evil (2019) ) and “Still a Mystery” (2018-2020). She is also the CEO of Berraca Productions, a company she founded to advance advocacy for the empowerment of women who are survivors of fraud.
dispute
In January 2016, a popular US magazine published an article describing the courtship and alleged marriage arrangement of NBC News producers Benita Alexander and Paolo Macchiarini . In 2013, Benita was assigned by NBC News to produce a documentary about Paul, “Leap of Faith.” During the project, she became romantically involved with him, only to discover in 2015 that he had been married for thirty years, including the entire period of their courtship. The article details Macchiarini’s lies about becoming a surgeon to celebrities and world leaders, including claims of ties to former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and plans to host Pope Francis, Andrea Bocelli and Elton John performed in a lavish wedding, catered by Enoteca Pinchiorri and attended by numerous celebrities. Macchiarini allegedly said Pope Francis had blessed their wedding, but a papal spokesman denied this, saying the pope did not know anyone by that name and would not officiate at such an event.
Awards
- 2002: Won the News & Documentary Emmy Award for Outstanding News Magazine Reporting for the NBC show Dateline episode “No Greater Love: The Story of Flight 93”
- 2010: The documentary series “Inside the Obama White House” wins the News & Documentary Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Craft Achievement in Writing
Facts/Trivia
- In the 2018 documentary He Lied About Everything, Benita recounted her fairytale romance with Paolo Macchiarini that turned into a nightmare. After discovering that her fiancé Paul is not who he claims to be, Benita sets out on a journey to uncover the stories of the patients and their families who died at his hands. Benita has shared her experiences on various national and international television and radio programs. In 2019, this documentary was nominated for the WIN Awards (Women’s Image Network) in the documentary category. In October 2020, her story premiered as the first episode of ABC’s primetime series The Con, hosted by Whoopi Goldberg.
2020 crime drama The Con poster
- In August 2021, the third season of the Doctor Death Podcast released a six-episode season titled “Miracle Man,” focusing on Paolo Macchiarini. The podcast explores allegations of ethical misconduct and manipulation in Macchiarini’s medical practice, as well as deception in his relationship with Alexander. The series interviews Benita Alexander to delve into the controversy surrounding Paul.
Poster Death for 2021 Podcast ‘Dr.’
- In 2023, she starred in a documentary called Bad Surgeon: Love Under the Knife, released on Netflix and adapted from Paul’s work in the field of regenerative medicine.
- She follows a non-vegetarian diet.
- She drinks occasionally.
Benita Alexander holding a small glass of wine
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education