Lisa Marie Presley isn't Priscilla Presley's only child. More than a decade after her 1973 divorce from Elvis Presley, Priscilla welcomed her second child, a son named Navarone Garibaldi Garcia, with her then-partner, producer Marco Garibaldi. In the wake of Lisa Marie's death, Navarone, 35, is speaking out about his life and family.
Priscilla and Marco met through mutual friends in the early '80s. They welcomed Navarone in 1987, and raised him in a way that one might not imagine. "[There's a] misconception that I was raised extravagantly with Elvis' estate and money... That wasn't the case," he says.
As he grew up, Navarone tried his best to stay out of the spotlight.
"I got in trouble more than everybody else, because kids' parents would find out who my mom was, and they'd want a reason to talk to her," he tells People. "I wasn't very comfortable with it."
Then, in his teenage years, Navarone became addicted to heroine and fentanyl.
"I was under the impression I was doing heroin, but then it'd turn out to be fentanyl," he says. "That was a whole different beast. I became so addicted that I'd need it every 45 minutes."
When he turned 18, Navarone left Los Angeles behind in favor of Santa Cruz. "It was an escape," he says of calling a new city home. "It was a fresh start. Santa Cruz is a little portal that sucks you in."
While he was living there, his parents' 20-year-long relationship came to an end. The split changed everyone's lives.
For Navarone, he got close to his dad for the first time. "The disciplinarian role didn't work between us, but the friend role did," he explains. "He wanted someone to go out drinking with."
For Priscilla, she felt free to play her ex-husband's music around the house once more. "I think my dad had a bit of a complex about [Elvis' music]," Navarone says. "It wasn't until after he left that my mom started playing his music again freely."
Navarone's peaceful, and largely anonymous, life in Santa Cruz came to an end in 2008, when a tabloid discovered he was growing marijuana at his home.
"It ended up on the front page," he says. "Everybody knew who my family was again."
Four years later, Navarone was back in Los Angeles, pursuing a music career with his Santa Cruz-formed, synth rock band, Them Guns.
"I thought, 'OK, I'm going into the family business. I'll write a song, and then we'll start touring it,'" he says. "I didn't realize it takes way more than that."
In 2017, Navarone's life took a dramatic turn when he found out about his dad's secret past, something that was first hinted at back in the '80s when Priscilla received a call from a woman telling her "he's not who you think he is."
It wasn't until decades later, though, when Navarone decided to call up someone who'd reached out claiming to be his cousin, that the musician learned his father was not from a wealthy Italian family, but rather a Brazil native who changed his last name from Garcia to Garibaldi upon his arrival to the U.S. after being told he'd never make it in Hollywood with a Hispanic moniker.
When Navarone confronted Marco with the information he'd learned, he said his dad responded by telling him, "Lose my number." They haven't spoken since.
While his relationship with his father fell apart, Navarone "gained 20-plus" family members, whom he quickly flew to Brazil to meet. Though he was thrilled to welcome new people in his life, Navarone was keeping a big secret from them on that first trip.
"My family there didn't know I had a drug problem, and I was so ashamed to tell them," he says. "I promised I wouldn't come back again until my problem was resolved."
That didn't happen until 2020, when Navarone got clean from hard drugs and opioids. He was motivated to get clean, because he wanted to be able to visit his then-girlfriend, Elisa Achilli, in her home country of Switzerland.
"When COVID happened, I wanted to go there and see her for more than three or four days," he says. "I didn't want to have to bring a pound of fentanyl with me anywhere I went. I buckled down and said, 'Let's see how bad this can get.'"
From there, Navarone, who still smokes marijuana and drinks alcohol, began detoxing at his mom's house.
"I was pretty much in my bed in the fetal position all day," he says. "It feels like a different lifetime, almost. The whole world got a lot better [afterward]."
Things certainly improved in his personal life when Elisa accepted his proposal in late 2020, and the pair tied the knot at Switzerland's Schloss Hunigen Hotel just over a year later.
Then, in January 2023, tragedy struck when Lisa Marie died. While Navarone wasn't close to his half-sister in the years leading up to her death, he attended her memorial at Graceland and thanked fans, saying he was "truly grateful" for their support, shortly thereafter.
He also remembered Lisa Marie on Instagram. "Big sister… I hope you are now at peace and happy with your Dad and your son by your side," he wrote of Elvis and Benjamin Keough, the latter of whom died by suicide in 2020. "I know the past couple years weren't easy for you, and I wish things had been different between us. Regardless, you are my sister and I'm sending love and prayers for your journey home. I still can’t believe this, I'm lost for words. Love you sis. Beijos."
"It's still so surreal," Navarone tells the outlet of Lisa Marie's death, before revealing that he maintains a close relationship with her daughter, Riley Keough.
"Riley has been so good with the twins," he says, referring to Lisa Marie's daughters, Finley and Harper, 14, with ex-husband Michael Lockwood.
Even amid tragedy, Navarone is pushing ahead personally and professionally. Them Guns is set to release a new track, "Acid Plane," on Friday, and Navarone is hoping to go on an international tour with his band soon. He also plans to travel to Brazil with his mom this year, and has his sights set on moving there one day.
Navarone hopes that by speaking out and through his music, people will finally get to see who he is.
"A lot of people know about me, but they don't know me," he says. "... There were some points where I didn't think I'd make it here. I'm so proud of how far I've come."
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