Barbra Streisand Cloned Her Dead Dog
Barbra Streisand really, really loved her dog, Samantha - so much so, that after the pup passed away last year, the iconic singer and actress created clones of the pooch.
In a new interview with Variety, Streisand revealed she had cells taken from her 14-year-old Coton du Tulear's mouth and stomach before the dog passed away in 2017. Using the DNA samples, the actress had two clones of Samantha created. After the clones arrived, it was understandably hard to tell them apart - so Streisand dressed the dogs in red and lavender, which is how they got their names, Miss Scarlett and Miss Violet.
Now she's waiting for Miss Scarlett and Miss Violet to grow up, so she can see if they're anything like the late Samantha.
“They have different personalities,” Streisand told Variety. “I’m waiting for them to get older so I can see if they have her brown eyes and seriousness.”
Streisand also has a third canine companion, Miss Fanny, who is Samantha's distant cousin. All three of the adorable pups make frequent appearances in Streisand's Instagram feed, and if you ask us, they all look identical.
According to the New York Times, the first dog clone was created back in 2005. Though Streisand didn't share which company she used, the cloning process usually costs at least $50,000.
But not everyone is a fan of the idea: PETA has spoken out against the practice, urging Streisand and other celebs to stop cloning their pets. "We all want our beloved dogs to live forever, but while it may sound like a good idea, cloning doesn’t achieve that," said PETA president Ingrid Newkirk in a statement to Page Six. “Instead, it creates a new and different dog who has only the physical characteristics of the original. Animals’ personalities, quirks, and very ‘essence’ simply cannot be replicated, and when you consider that millions of wonderful adoptable dogs are languishing in animal shelters every year or dying in terrifying ways when abandoned, you realize that cloning adds to the homeless-animal population crisis."
(h/t Variety)
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