The Loop
Barbra Streisand cloned her dog -- and the Internet is freaking out
I have a soft spot in my heart for Barbra Streisand because I was raised by two parents who probably rank the legendary singer just behind Abraham Lincoln on a list of the most important people in U.S. history. So when I saw her name trending on Twitter on Tuesday, I feared the worst: Making a sad phone call to my parents to inform them of the devastating news they'd read in the paper the next day. But fortunately, Barbra Streisand is alive and well. She was just in the news for having her dead dog cloned. Twice. Yep.
In a new Variety profile, Streisand broke this bit of news that had everyone on the Internet freaking out:
Along with her husband of 20 years, James Brolin, there’s no one she enjoys sharing her residence with more than her three Coton de Tulear dogs. Perhaps her biggest reveal: Miss Violet and Miss Scarlett were cloned from cells taken from the mouth and stomach of her beloved 14-year-old dog Samantha, who died in 2017. Miss Fanny is a distant cousin.
“They have different personalities,” Streisand says. “I’m waiting for them to get older so I can see if they have her brown eyes and her seriousness.”
Here's a look at the deceased Sammie, who is still all over Streisand's Instagram account:
And here's the army of Coton de Tulear dogs the diva is creating:
Never mind, those are mostly stuffed animals. But she does have three adorable furry friends now:
In case you're wondering about pet cloning, Business Insider did a report in 2015 on a Korean lab, Soam Biotech, that clones dogs for $100,000. That sounds like a lot of dough for a dog, but Barbra probably makes that much in royalties per year off "The Way We Were" alone.
So what's the big deal? Barbra knows what she likes in a pet and she has the means to take advantage of scientific advancements. Frankly, I'm surprised more celebrities don't do this. Or maybe they do. . . And maybe they've been cloning themselves as well. . . And maybe that explains why Ryan Seacrest can seemingly work 28 hours per day. . . Hmm. . .