Priscilla Presley Almost Lost Her Son Navarone in a Camel Attack Days Before Daughter Lisa Marie’s Death (Exclusive)



NEED TO KNOW

  • In 2023, Priscilla Presley almost lost her son Navarone Garcia in a vicious camel attack which required him to get 34 staples in his head
  • Just days after the attack, Priscilla’s daughter Lisa Marie Presley died at age 54 from a small bowel obstruction
  • Priscilla tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story that her heart would be “totally broken” if she had to grieve both of her children

Just days before her daughter Lisa Marie Presley died on Jan. 12, 2023, Priscilla Presley almost lost her son Navarone Garcia, too.

In this week’s PEOPLE cover story, the matriarch, 80, recalls the scary moment a camel viciously attacked Navarone (her son with ex Marco Garibaldi) during a visit to a friend’s animal sanctuary in California’s San Fernando Valley.

“We were petting them, and the next thing that happened was the camel bit him in the head,” says Priscilla. “There was blood spurting everywhere. The blood was covering Navarone’s face. I’m literally freaking out. I thought I was going to lose him, for sure.”

The camel finally let go of Navarone’s head when the German shepherd on the property lunged at the animal’s face. Navarone, 38, was then rushed to the hospital, where the gash on his head was treated with 34 staples.

“He was very, very lucky I was told,” Priscilla says. “The doctor said [the camel’s tooth almost hit] his brain. So, he’s not around anymore camels. Neither am I.”

Priscilla Presley photographed for PEOPLE.

Andrew Eccles


Days after the attack, which Priscilla recounts in her new memoir Softly as I Leave You: Life After Elvis, out Sept. 23, Lisa Marie died at age 54 of a small bowel obstruction that developed after bariatric surgery years prior. Priscilla can’t imagine what it would have been like to grieve both of her children if Navarone’s incident had gone the other way.

“My heart would be totally broken,” she says. “When I lost Lisa, I thought, ‘I’m not going to be able to get through this.’ But I realized I have a son that needs me. As a mom you have to be there for your children.”

Lisa Marie Presley, Navarone Garcia and Priscilla Presley and 2011.

David Becker/WireImage


In this week’s cover, Priscilla also shares how she helped Navarone get clean from drug addiction. Two weeks after Priscilla’s grandson Benjamin Keough, the son of Lisa Marie and her ex-husband Danny Keough, was buried following his death by suicide at age 27 in 2020, Navarone came to his mom asking for help getting off fentanyl. The synthetic opioid is 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine.

“I would be in bed with him, and he’d say, ‘My legs hurt, my legs hurt,'” Priscilla remembers. “I’d get up and massage his legs. Now I know what it’s like with someone who goes through withdrawal. It’s horrible. A lot of people can’t get through it and go right back to it. It was hard.”

After 22 days of withdrawal, Priscilla says Navarone hit a turning point. Months later, his recovery stalled when he relapsed on heroin, a drug he previously told PEOPLE he first started using in his teens. Priscilla cared for him at her home once again.

“Finally one day he came to me and said, ‘Mom, I want to get off drugs. I don’t want to do this anymore. I don’t want to hurt you anymore. Will you help me?'” Priscilla says. “I said, ‘I will absolutely help you.’ So, he stayed at my home and I slept with him every night, and he had withdrawals every night. I don’t wish that on anyone because there’s really nothing you can do. You can’t give them more drugs, that’s for sure. They have to go through it.”

Priscilla Presley photographed for PEOPLE.

Andrew Eccles


After detoxing from heroin, Priscilla says she noticed a major difference in Navarone.

“He’s been sober ever since, so I’m really happy for him,” she says. “He’s in a good place. We made it.”

Softly, As I Leave You: Life after Elvis will be published on Sept. 23 and is available for preorder now, wherever books are sold.




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