Priscilla Presley Breaks Silence About Helping Her Son Navarone Overcome Drug Addiction

"Mom, I'm hurting": Priscilla Presley recounts harrowing details behind her son's drug withdrawal, as well as heartbreaking reflections about her daughter's tragic death.

In a gut-wrenching new interview, Priscilla Presley has lifted the lid on the emotional rollercoaster of motherhood — detailing the agonizing nights she spent watching her son fight addiction, and the unbearable pain of losing her only daughter.

The Hollywood icon, 80, spoke exclusively to People magazine, opening up about how she supported her son Navarone Garibaldi through a devastating battle with drugs. However, the reception she received online was less than pleasant for the most part. Many were quick to compare her response to Navarone's crisis with the tragic fate of her daughter, Lisa Marie Presley.

'Mom, I’m Hurting': The Five-Night Battle to Save Navarone Garibaldi

Recalling her son's desperate spiral, Priscilla didn't hold back. "He had some issues going through a bad, bad time," she said, revealing the emotional torment of watching Navarone try to claw his way out of addiction.

The turning point came when Navarone, exhausted and emotionally spent, came to her and stated, "Mom, I want to get off drugs. I don't want to do this anymore. I don't want to hurt you anymore[...] I lost some friends."

Without hesitation, Priscilla stepped in — becoming her son's lifeline. "So he stayed at my home," she continued, recounting how she slept beside her son every night as he endured the agony of withdrawal.

"And I don't wish that on anyone, because there's really nothing, you know, you can do. You can't give him more drugs, that's for sure. They have to go through it," Priscilla explained.

She described the haunting sounds of Navarone's withdrawal, "He'd move and, 'Mom, Mom, I'm hurting, I'm hurting [...] my legs hurt, my legs hurt.' I get up and I rub his legs."

There was nothing else to offer but a mother's unconditional love. Night after night, she massaged his legs, watched him writhe in pain, and stayed strong while his body waged war against addiction.

"Now I know what it's like with someone who goes through withdrawals, and it's horrible [...] And a lot of, you know, people can't get through it and go right back to it," she said.

Then — on the fifth day — the tide turned. "We made it," Priscilla declared. "And it was like, my God, I never thought it was going to happen [...] I'm really happy for him." But the relief of one child's recovery could not ease the ache of another's absence.

'Take Her off the Machine': Priscilla Presley Relives the Horror of Lisa Marie Presley's Final Moments

While Navarone's story ended in healing, Priscilla's memories of losing Lisa Marie are etched with trauma and despair.

"It was the second saddest day of my life, other than losing Elvis," she revealed, still shaken more than a year after Lisa’s sudden passing in January 2023. The singer and mother of four died at 54 due to complications from a prior bariatric surgery.

But Lisa's final hours weren't a blur — they were agonizingly long. Priscilla got the call from Lisa's ex-husband, Danny Keough, who had found her unresponsive at home.

"Lisa really wasn't breathing, so she was on the ventilator," she recalled. "For hours we were there waiting, hoping and praying until the doctor came in and said, 'Priscilla, I'm so sorry, she's gone.' We just couldn't believe it — didn't want to believe it."

In an early excerpt from her upcoming memoir, "Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis," Priscilla paints a chilling portrait of the hours before Lisa's death. "Her spirit, always so vital, wasn't there," she wrote. Family members trickled in as the hours passed, yet no amount of love or presence could bring Lisa back.

After Lisa flatlined for the first time during a code blue ordeal, doctors delivered a crushing truth: her heart could stop again at any moment, and if she survived, her quality of life would be severely impaired, as she would remain on the machine.

With unimaginable pain, Priscilla had to decide. "Take her off the machine, Doctor," she whispered. "I don't remember falling," she penned. "I know that Ivy caught me. After that, everything went dark. I can't remember. I don't want to remember."

'How Did She Help Her Daughter?': The Internet Erupts with Fury

Priscilla's raw recounting of Navarone's recovery sparked a tidal wave of emotion online — but not all of it was supportive. Several netizens questioned the perceived disparity between how she helped Navarone and how she handled her late daughter's struggles.

"Shame you did not do that for Lisa?" wrote a spectator, while another, plainly asked, "How did she help her daughter?"

Some were far more brutal. "We're where you when Lisa Marie need you that most when she lost her daddy you abandon her [sic]?" expressed a commenter. In response, someone else countered, "Actually she took Lisa overseas to get away from the media!"

Some commenters took a broader, more critical view of the family's generational struggles. "Your Daughter Your Grandson Your Son Preaching Priscilla Riley stay away From the Evil Granny 😢 [sic]," wrote a critic.

Another drew pointed connections as well, stating, "Her first husband Elvis = drug overdose Grandson Benjamin = drug overdose 🥺? Now her son [sic]??" Meanwhile, someone else also chimed in, disputing Priscilla's version of Navarone's sobriety journey by alleging, "He's [sic] still drinks a lot and smokes [...] All the time."

Yet another observer suggested that the roots of addiction in the Presley-Garibaldi family were generational and circumstantial.

A Family Haunted by Addiction

Amid the online backlash, many pointed to Lisa's own harrowing struggle with addiction — one she candidly addressed before her death. In her posthumous memoir "From Here to the Great Unknown," completed by her daughter Riley Keough, Lisa revealed that her addiction to prescription painkillers began after the 2008 birth of her twins, Finley and Harper Lockwood.

"For a couple of years [sic] it was recreational and then it wasn't," she penned. "It was an absolute matter of addiction, withdrawal in the big leagues."

Addiction had long haunted Lisa's life. Her father, Elvis Presley, and ex-husband Michael Jackson both died of drug-related causes, and she experimented with substances as a teen. In 2020, her son Benjamin Keough's suicide — another victim of addiction — devastated her.

Riley later shared that writing about "mom's descent into addiction" — and Benjamin's death — was "incredibly difficult."

Years before her death, Lisa bravely went public about her addiction. In the 2019 foreword for "The United States of Opioids: A Prescription for Liberating a Nation in Pain," she wrote, "I had never openly spoken in public about my own addiction to opioids and painkillers. I wasn't sure that I was ready to share on such a personal topic."

Still, she pushed forward, saying she hoped to help others by speaking out. "It is time for us to say goodbye to shame about addiction," she declared, later adding, "I am writing this in the hope that I can play a small part in focusing attention on this terrible crisis."

Despite her struggles, Lisa made it clear, at the time, that she was "grateful to be alive today." Before she put her story into words, Lisa was already taking steps toward recovery.

In 2016, she checked into the exclusive Hills Treatment Center in Los Angeles to address her addiction to prescription pills. At the time, a source told Us Weekly, "She's doing OK but needed to get this under control." The facility, known for its high-end care and discretion, reportedly cost $400,000 a month — underscoring the seriousness of her commitment to healing.

But one loss was too great. In her recent interview with People, the Presley matriarch reflected on the devastating impact of Benjamin's suicide — a tragedy from which Lisa never fully recovered.

"[Ben] was absolutely the love of her life," Priscilla divulged. "She didn't want to be here anymore [after his suicide]. She wanted to be with Ben."

Despite Priscilla's attempts to remind her daughter of the love and responsibility she still carried — especially for her youngest children — the weight of grief was overwhelming. "I'd tell her, 'Lisa, you've got the twins. You have to take care of the twins.' She tried. She really did," disclosed Priscilla. But Lisa's pain was all-consuming.

Priscilla Presley Defends Herself as Rumors Swirl

As speculation and rumors continued to swirl in the wake of Lisa's passing, Priscilla took a moment during her recent People interview to set the record straight — particularly about her relationship with her granddaughter, Riley.

"There's been so much that's untruthful out there — things like Elvis is still alive and hidden somewhere, all this stuff about how the family is battling," she noted. "I want to clear some things up."

"Riley and I have never had a problem," Priscilla stated. "We're very close. We support each other." Reflecting on her bond with Lisa, Priscilla also dismissed any suggestion of longstanding strain.

"I know there's a lot out there that I did this to Lisa, I did that to Lisa," she referenced. "There's a lot of people who didn't want Lisa and I to be close. We were very close. Lisa could be hard-headed, but so could I sometimes. We had a lot of good times together [sic]."

Now, Priscilla Presley finds joy in watching Riley step into motherhood. "I love her babies," she gushed. "I'm really happy for Riley. She's got an amazing husband and two great children, so I'm happy for her very much." With gratitude, she added, "That's what makes me happy: knowing everyone is doing well. I feel I'm living a good life."

If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text "help" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741, or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org.