Priscilla Presley’s son, Navarone Garibaldi celebrates his 37th birthday. After a life of hardships, including being abandoned by his father, losing his half-sister Lisa Marie Presley, and being used for his last name, Navarone receives a wave of well-wishes from the public.
Navarone Garibaldi, a musician and former lead singer of the rock band Them Guns, is best known for being the son of the famous Priscilla Presley. However, his life has largely been overshadowed by his mother’s husband, Elvis Presley, and their daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, leaving him little opportunity to carve out his own path.
“A lot of people know about me, but they don’t know me,” Navarone said in an interview, and it couldn’t be more true.
It all began when Priscilla met Navarone’s dad, Marco Garibaldi, through friends. Shortly after Navarone was born, within the first month of his life, his mom received a call from an unknown number.
“He’s not who you think he is,” the voice on the line said regarding Navarone’s dad. All Priscilla could do at that moment was ask not to be contacted again before hanging up the phone.
“My mom pretty much said, ‘Don’t call here again,’ because she didn’t know what to do with that information,” said Navarone.
Later in life, when Navarone tried to dig into his father’s past, he stumbled upon a new disappointment — it turned out that his father was hiding his last name.
Navarone, as well as the rest of the family, thought that his father was a wealthy Italian, which was far from the truth. When a Brazilian teenager reached out to Navarone claiming to be his cousin, it became evident that Navarone’s dad had never come from Italy.
Marco had changed his last name from Garcia to Garibaldi out of fear that he would never make a career in Hollywood with a Hispanic last name.
When Navarone called his dad to confirm this information, he was met with a cold shoulder and a sharp “Lose my number.” That was the last time they spoke. And after 20 years, his parents broke up without ever getting married.
Navarone stayed tough like he always had since he was a kid. He got used to shady people and learned not to trust them easily. “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 said in an interview. “I wasn’t very comfortable with it.”
With all the tough times the family faced, Priscilla and Navarone had to stick together, looking out for each other and shielding one another from the world. On Navarone’s 37th birthday, Priscilla wrote a heartfelt message to her son.
“No matter how old you are, you’ll always be that curious young boy to me! You make me laugh, you make me smile, you make me proud, you make me scared, you make me nervous…but I don’t care. The journey’s worth every moment of beautiful time with you!” she posted.
Fans joined in to congratulate Priscilla’s son, wishing him all the best. Amidst the celebration, some users pointed out how alike to his mother Navarone grew up to be.
“You’re the male version of your mom. You’re two peas in a pod,” commented a fan. “Same eyes, two gorgeous-looking people, so much like you, Priscilla,” wrote another.
Navarone himself was touched by his mother’s good wishes, and replied, “Aaawe, sooo sweet. Thank you, mama. I love yooouu sooooo much.”
Navarone gets to celebrate his birthday, unlike his half-sister Lisa Marie Presley, who passed away in 2023. Similar to Navarone, Lisa Marie tried to make it in the music industry. However, they weren’t as close as they could have been, especially in the years leading up to her death.
Navarone was the first to admit that things weren’t always smooth sailing between him and his sister. When Lisa Marie died in January, he wrote about their complicated relationship on Instagram.
In his tribute, he wished his big sister was at peace with her son Benjamin Keough, and her dad, Elvis. He added that he knew of his sister’s difficulties in the past years as well.
“I wish things had been different between us. Regardless, you are my sister,” he wrote at one point.
When a decision on Lisa Marie’s estate came out, Navarone was listed as 1/9 of those to be granted a part of the trust. This fact was made public after Priscilla and her granddaughter, Riley Keough, reached an agreement over Lisa Marie’s estate.
Earlier this month, Navarone appeared in an interview where he spoke about Lisa Marie and her hatred towards Navarone’s dad while he and Priscilla were together. He then talked about the time Lisa Marie and his father, Marco, met again in 2017.
At a barbecue Navarone hosted, Marco and Lisa Marie allegedly conspired to do something together. While Navarone refused to say what it was, he didn’t agree to it and warned his dad that if he continued, they’d no longer talk to one another.
Some fans felt Navarone was painting his late sister in a bad light. In his recent Instagram post, one user slammed him for speaking “poorly” of his sibling.
The user asked whether he didn’t feel bad for speaking a certain way about his sibling so soon after their death. “I suspect they had good intentions with you,” the person added.
“You obviously suspect incorrect things,” Navarone said in a lengthy reply to a commenter. He added that he wasn’t about to change the way he felt about a person just because they’d passed away.
The user then acknowledged that Navarone was right. However, they hoped he’d one day learn to forgive his siblings. “It’s a journey to get there, but it will help you live a better life,” the person ended their comment.
Navarone then responded that he had nothing but good things to say about all of his nieces, to which another person clarified that the first user was talking about his siblings and not his nieces. Navarone has yet to comment further.
Ultimately, Navarone admitted that he was grieving. He added that his ways of coping might be different, which is why people seem to misinterpret it.
