NFL Legend Tom Brady Clones Late Dog: Reports

Two years ago, former Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady cloned his late dog, Lua, media reports say.

Brady, reportedly an investor in Colossal Laboratories and Biosciences, on Tuesday disclosed that he was given "a second chance" through pet Junie after Lua died in December 2023. Lua was a pitbull mixed breed Brady adopted with ex-wife Gisele Bundchen.

“I love my animals. They mean the world to me and my family. A few years ago, I worked with Colossal and leveraged their non-invasive cloning technology through a simple blood draw of our family's elderly dog before she passed," Brady said in a news release obtained by People and Today.

"In a few short months, Colossal gave my family a second chance with a clone of our beloved dog. I am excited how Colossal and Viagen’s tech together can help both families losing their beloved pets while helping to save endangered species.”

The reveal came on the same day it was announced that Colossal acquired animal-cloning company Viagen, which claimed to have cloned 15 species of animals and "bio banked more than 40 unique species," like the Florida bonneted bat.

"When you clone an animal, it’s an identical genetic copy," Colossal CEO Ben Lamm told Today. "So it’s the physical traits, it’s appearance, but a lot of the behavioral traits, as well, come with that," Lamm said. "There’s still environmental factors that affect all of us."

Viagen cloned Barbra Streisand's dog Samantha after she died in 2017 and Paris Hilton's dog Diamond Baby after her disappearance in 2022, People reported. Diamond Baby was reportedly cloned into two puppies.

The price tag for Viagen to clone a dog or cat will cost two equal payments totaling $50,000, and if a person wants a horse cloned, they will have to pay $85,000. State sales tax may be billed to the client.

It was not clear if Brady paid the full $50,000 to clone Lua.

Today reported the world's first cloned dog happened in 2005 in South Korea.