Lisa Marie Presley’s half-brother Navarone Garibaldi has reflected on her ‘surreal’ death in an emotional new interview released on the star’s 55th birthday on Wednesday.
Garibaldi 35 – who is the son of Priscilla Presley, 77, and her former partner and her ex, producer Marco Garibaldi – 68, also praised Lisa Marie’s daughter Riley Keough, 33 for caring for her twin sisters, Harper and Finley, 14 in an interview with People.
The interview comes 20 days after Presley’s tragic death on January 12 at age 54, after she went into cardiac arrest at home and had to be rushed to a hospital after CPR was performed.
He said of her shock passing: ‘It’s still so surreal’ before adding that he wanted to do the interview because ‘people know of me but they don’t know me’ – days after he attended a memorial for Presley at Graceland on January 22.
Garibaldi also said he and Presley had drifted apart in the years leading up to her death.
Devastating: Lisa Marie Presley’s half-brother Navarone Garibaldi has reflected on her ‘surreal’ death in an emotional new interview released on the star’s 55th birthday on Wednesday (pictured with mom Priscilla Presley in 2015)
The interview also comes Priscilla is challenging a 2016 revision to her will that removed her and Lisa’s former business manager Barry Siegel as mangers of her trust and replacing them with Riley.
While Garibaldi didn’t comment on the legal move, he revealed he was close to Riley, saying: ‘Riley has been so good with the twins.’
Presley shared Harper and Finley with ex-husband Michael Lockwood, who she was involved in an acrimonious custody battle with.
Garibaldi also reflected on his own struggles with drug addiction – after it emerged that Presley was ‘back on opioids and weight loss medication’ before her tragic death.
He said he started using heroin as a teenager before becoming addicted to fentanyl.
He said; ‘I was under the impression I was doing heroin, but then it’d turn out to be fentanyl. That was a whole different beast. I became so addicted that I’d need it every 45 minutes.
He got clean in 2020 so he could visit his wife Elisa in Switzerland, and said he spent a month detoxing ‘and in the fetal position’ at Priscilla’s house
Last month Garibaldi took to Instagram with a childhood image of himself as he was with his sister.
Tragic loss: The interview comes 20 days after Presley’s tragic death on January 12 at age 54, after she went into cardiac arrest at home and had to be rushed to a hospital after CPR was performed (pictured January 10)
Damning court documents have pit Priscilla (left) against her granddaughter Riley Keough (right) claiming she was pushed out as a trustee and an ‘inconsistent signature’ from her daughter Lisa Marie (center) was used
Daughters: Garibaldi 35 -also praised Lisa Marie’s daughter Riley Keough, 33 for caring for her twin sisters, Harper and Finley, 14 (pictured) in an interview with People
He made reference to Lisa Marie’s late father Elvis Presley, who died in 1977 when she was nine; and her late son Benjamin Keough, who died of suicide in July of 2020 when he was 27.
‘Big sister… i hope you are now at peace and happy with your Dad and your son by your side,’ Garibaldi said. ‘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.
He wrapped up in saying, ‘I still can’t believe this, I’m lost for words. Love you sis. Beijos.’
Garibaldi paid tribute to his late half-sister a day after his mother confirmed in a statement that the singer-songwriter had died after she was rushed to a hospital in the wake of what was thought to be a cardiac arrest.
‘It is with a heavy heart that I must share the devastating news that my beautiful daughter Lisa Marie has left us,’ Priscilla told People in a statement. ‘She was the most passionate strong and loving woman I have ever known.
‘We ask for privacy as we try to deal with this profound loss. Thank you for the love and prayers. At this time, there will be no further comment.’
Post: Navarone aid memorial to his late sister a day after her death at 54 in an Instagram post last month
Lisa Marie was pictured at the Golden Globes at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Tuesday, two days before her death at 54
Lisa Marie’s last public appearance at the Golden Globes came two days before her death, where she attended in support of the Baz Luhrmann film Elvis.
This comes after family sources claimed Lisa Marie Presley was trying to lose weight for the Elvis awards season and was even taking opioids in the weeks before her death.
The star underwent plastic surgery two months before the Golden Globes and lost up to 50 pounds as part of a strict regimen, insiders told TMZ.
At the awards show just days before her sudden death from cardiac arrest at her California, home, the star was seen slurring her words and appeared unsteady on her feet on the red carpet.
In the clip, she turned to her friend Jerry Schilling, 80, and said ‘I’m gonna grab your arm’ as she was asked questions ahead of the event by Extra host Billy Bush.
She appeared to talk slowly and slurred her words while talking about the film’s star Austin Butler and the storms and flooding in Southern California.
Lisa Marie had previously struggled with an addiction to opioids after she was given a short-term prescription during her recovery from the birth of her twin daughters, Harper Vivienne and Finley in 2008.
By 2013, she was heavily abusing cocaine and checked into rehab at least five times.
Opioid overdoses are known to trigger cardiac arrest, and after a lengthy period of being clean following an addiction, the body’s tolerance to the drugs will be far lower.
Meanwhile, damning court documents have pit Priscillaagainst her granddaughter Riley claiming she was pushed out as a trustee and an ‘inconsistent signature’ from her daughter Lisa Marie was used.
Priscilla filed legal documents to set aside an amendment to Lisa Marie’s 2010 trust which eliminates her and her daughter’s former business manager Barry Siegel as trustees and replaced them with her grandchildren Riley and the late Ben Keough.
Ben Keough committed suicide in 2020 which would leave Riley as the sole trustee for Lisa Marie’s estate, but Priscilla hopes to make this amendment invalid.
Priscilla has questioned the validity and authenticity of the amendment, claiming it was never delivered to her, the date on the document is suspicious, the document misspells Priscilla’s name, and Lisa Marie’s signature ‘appears inconsistent with her usual and customary signature.’
Lisa Marie reportedly wanted her children to have access to her trust and wanted her oldest daughter Riley Keough to manage it, a close friend claims.
‘Lisa’s intent was very clear,’ the friend said while speaking to People on Monday. ‘Lisa really didn’t feel that [mother] Priscilla Presley was doing anything in her best interest.’
DailyMail.com reached out to representatives for Riley Keough and Priscilla Presley.
She posed with her mother Priscilla Presley and Elvis star Austin Butler at the event
