Lisa Marie Presley’s Half-Brother Navarone Garibaldi Slams Growing Up With Her: The ‘Important One’

Eleven months after the shocking death of his half sister, Lisa Marie Presley, at 54, Navarone Garibaldi took to social media to discuss his feelings. But anyone expecting a touching tribute was in for a surprise.

“You’re entitled to your opinion [about Lisa Marie]. I’m sure she was good to some,” the 36-year-old said in an Instagram Live. “I have made peace. I’m not gonna lie and say I miss her, but I’ll say it’s strange.”

Called out for trash-talking his sib, Navarone doubled down. “I didn’t talk trash, all I did was speak the truth.” The only child of Priscilla Presley and former partner Marco Garibaldi, the Them Guns singer had a fraught relationship with Lisa Marie, Priscilla’s only child with rock legend Elvis Presley. Nearly two decades apart in age, they were never close, and there was resentment on both sides. “All his life, she was the important one, the famous one, Elvis’ heir,” an insider tells Star. “And she was annoyed she had to share her mother’s love and attention when he came along.”

Fighting Words

The tension carried into adulthood. Navarone claimed that Lisa Marie — who struggled with addiction for years — would become hateful when she drank. “She’d decide to go off and tell you everything that’s wrong with you and your life,” he said of the mom of three (her son, Benjamin, died by suicide at 27 in 2020). “It was pretty destructful [sic]. I never got angry like that. I never said anything I didn’t mean when I smoked pot, but she would say really awful things to me that kind of kept us from being close when she would drink.”

Lisa Marie first abused drugs and alcohol at age 13 and first went to rehab at 17. “I did everything but mushrooms and heroin or crack: Cocaine, sedatives, pot and drinking — all at the same time,” she later recalled. “I don’t know how I lived through it.” She later became addicted to opioids prescribed after the 2008 birth of her twins, Harper and Finley Lockwood (she was also mom to actress Riley Keough, 34). “The family knew Lisa Marie had a problem, but felt powerless to help her,” says the insider. “When she was drinking she would become confrontational and angry, especially if they tried to reason with her.”

For Navarone, that meant her tearing him to shreds. “It wasn’t all bad between them, they had some nice brother-sister moments,” adds the source. “But when she was drinking she became a different person and would pick on him. He took it all to heart and never could forget her hateful words.”

Damage Done

Now his own harsh words have gotten Navarone into some trouble. The insider says Priscilla is not happy about his social media rant. “She loves her son, but she’s upset that he’s defiling Lisa Marie’s memory by speaking so ill of her,” explains the insider. “It was a reckless and thought-less thing to do.” Not only for her, but for Lisa Marie’s surviving children. “It’s especially cruel to Riley and the twins, who are grieving their mother,” adds the insider. “He should learn to hold his tongue.” Easier said than done. As Navarone himself said of his rant, “I just blurt out the first thing that comes to my mind… I just can’t help myself.”