Navarone Garcia, Lisa Marie Presley’s half-brother, has come forward following her passing. The 35-year-old musician, born to Priscilla Presley and producer Marco Garibaldi, has shared insights into his upbringing in the renowned family. He participated in the memorial service held for his late sister, the singer-songwriter, at Graceland on January 22nd.
Even though I am well-known as a member of Them Guns, many people don’t truly know me,” Garcia shared with People. He explained that he was raised away from the public eye and his mother’s divorce from music icon Elvis Presley meant he didn’t have the recognizable last name. However, once people discovered his connection to Presley, they would often seek to meet his mother, which made Garcia feel uncomfortable.
Garcia’s parents met in the 1980s and had a 20-year long relationship but never tied the knot. He later discovered that Garibaldi, who claimed to be from Italy, was actually from Brazil and had changed his surname from Garcia after being informed that he would never make it in the Hollywood industry with a Hispanic surname. When Garcia confronted his father about his deception regarding his background, their relationship became permanently strained. As a result, Garcia took on his father’s real surname.
At times, Garcia distanced himself from his family, including moving six hours away from his hometown of Los Angeles to Santa Cruz, California. However, he recalls a National Enquirer reporter discovering that he was growing and selling marijuana from his home, which became a cover story in 2008.
“Everyone was aware of my family’s reputation once again,” Garcia stated, avoiding any reference to Scientology, the disputed group to which Priscilla has been linked for many years. It is known that Lisa Marie has severed her ties with the organization.
Like Lisa Marie, who opened up about her opioid dependency in 2019, Garcia also struggled with substance abuse issues. He confessed that he started using heroin in his teenage years and eventually became dependent on fentanyl.
“I was so addicted that I needed a fix every 45 minutes,” he revealed. He declared that he conquered his hard drug and opioid addiction for good in 2020 (however, he still indulges in smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol). “There were moments when I didn’t think I would survive. I went through a month-long detox at Priscilla’s house and was practically in the fetal position in my bed all day. It seems like a distant memory now. The world became a much better place after that.” Garcia, who got married to his longtime partner Elisa Achilli in 2022, now feels it’s his turn to support his mother following the passing of Lisa Marie.
The relationship between Garcia and Lisa Marie was complicated. Despite a 20-year age gap between them, they didn’t have a childhood connection. Lisa Marie married her first husband, Danny Keough, a year after Garcia was born and started her own family soon after. In her later years, Garcia admitted that they were not close. He expressed his regret in a tribute after her death, writing, “I know the past couple of years were tough for you and I wish our relationship was different.” Despite the complications, Garcia found it hard to come to terms with Lisa Marie’s passing at the age of 54.
Garcia mentioned his close relationship with Riley Keough, who is the eldest daughter of Lisa Marie and 33 years old. He praised her for being “so good with the twins,” referring to Lisa Marie’s 14-year-old daughters, Finley and Harper, from her previous marriage to Michael Lockwood. It should be noted that Lisa Marie also had a son, Benjamin Keough, who passed away at the age of 27 in 2020 due to suicide.
Lisa Marie passed away on January 12th after suffering a cardiac arrest at her home in Calabasas, California. Garcia’s tribute to his sister, despite suggesting some recent tension between them, was not overlooked.
Priscilla presided over the tribute to Lisa Marie at Graceland, reciting a poem penned by the twins, while Garcia took part in the virtual celebration of life. In a surprising twist, last Thursday, Priscilla filed a petition seeking control of Lisa Marie’s estate. She is challenging the validity of an amendment made in 2016, which removed her as trustee and replaced her with Lisa Marie’s adult children, Riley and Benjamin, with Riley as the sole adult child.
According to a source close to Lisa Marie who spoke to Page Six, Priscilla’s actions are “nothing more than a money grab.” The source, who remains anonymous, claimed that Lisa Marie had no relationship with Priscilla, Michael Lockwood, or her half-brother, Garcia.
There have been other rumors surrounding Lisa Marie’s death, including a report from TMZ with unverified claims from “family sources” alleging that she was using opioids again. However, the cause of her death remains unknown, as the Los Angeles County Coroner is still conducting further testing.
