Navarone Garcia is no stranger to being in the spotlight.
While the 37-year-old musician may not be exactly a household name, his famous family members definitely are. Garcia is the son of Priscilla Presley and computer programmer Marco Garibaldi, who were together from 1984 to 2006 – making him the half-brother of Priscilla’s only other child, Lisa Marie Presley.
With a nearly 20-year age difference and very different life experiences, Navarone told ET that his relationship with his late half-sister had its ups and downs.
“I think in every family there’s sibling rivalry, or, you know, they don’t always see eye to eye, and that’s kind of been brought to the forefront in our family,” he shared. “We also had great times together, but our problems were definitely brought to the forefront.”
Navarone spoke to ET during his time at ET Steered straight ahead Lecture tour with founder Michael DeLeon – aimed at educating school-age children about the reality of drug abuse. For him it is a matter of the heart as he struggled with addiction at a young age – unfortunately not uncommon in his family tree.
“It’s just funny because [Lisa Marie] And I was, you know, sometimes struggling with the same thing at the same time,” he reflected. “It was never like we were ever together – we always did everything separately – but we didn’t even realize we were both struggling with the same thing at the same time.”
Lisa Marie was open about her history with opioid addiction when she wrote in 2019 United States from Opioids: A Prescription for Liberating a Nation in Pain that she was prescribed the drugs after the birth of her twin daughters in 2008 and became dependent on them. The daughter of Priscilla and Elvis Presley died on January 12, 2023 after suffering cardiac arrest at her home in Calabasas, California.
Despite their struggles, Navarone recalled that the connection with his sister remained even on the day of her funeral.
“Someone sent me a photo of the sky in Alabama that day … and it literally looked like there was an angel who made my sister’s face out of the clouds,” he said of the “remarkable” memory.
He has a much stronger bond with his mother, who he credits with helping him get through some of the lowest moments in his own addiction and recovery. Navarone began smoking weed in high school and by 2015, he said he was using heroin up to “40 times a day.” What’s worse, when he entered rehab, a drug test confirmed that he had indeed been using fentanyl most of the time.
“It’s a huge strain on the body and it became unbearable and unsustainable,” he admitted. “I would try to keep it from her, you know what I’ve been through, but after a week of withdrawal symptoms I did [call and say]”Mom, I’ve been at it for a week, but I have to come to your house, and I’m going to stay there for another two weeks,” and she says, “Okay. Do you need some soup?'”
“I would need help crawling to the toilet…she would help me,” he recalled. “She was great the whole time.”
During his recovery over the past few years, Navarone confirmed to ET that music was crucial to his sobriety. He laughed as he described his band Them Guns as a “muse with balls,” citing influences such as Depeche Mode and Nine Inch Nails.
The band released their first album, Out of the shadowsin 2017 and release its successor, Dark horizonthis year – much of it was made as part of Navarone’s recovery journey.
“I was in the middle of it when I was writing a lot of it and going through a lot of it,” he recalled. “I’ve been married and divorced in the last two years, so I’ve been through a lot of that struggle as well.”
And yes, Priscilla is a fan. “She likes it. You know she’s used to the best, so…” Navarone said with a laugh when asked if his mother had listened to his music.
But he has found peace with any connections critics might make between him and other musicians in his family – especially Elvis.
“It’s a weight that I’ve had my whole life,” he shared. “I tried to run away from it for so long and it’s something that I’m kind of embracing now, later in life. It’s my family I come from, you know? This isn’t something I have to do. “Run away from.”
The group is planning a tour this fall, but for now, Navarone is enjoying his time on a different kind of tour and using his real-life experiences to educate children about the dangers of substance abuse.
“The response from the students we had was so strong,” he marveled. “They contact me afterwards – a lot of them are going through a lot. A lot of them are musicians, they send me some of the lyrics or they send me some of the music they made. I try to support them and also respond to all of this.
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