Barbra Streisand reveals she cloned dog because she ‘couldn’t bear to lose her’
Barbra Streisand has spoken out about her decision to clone her dog Samantha, twice.
Speaking to The Times, the Hollywood actor recalled the moment her pet, which was a Coton de Tulear breed, was lying on her deathbed in 2017 and the Funny Girl star realised she “couldn’t bear to lose her”.
“I think any pet lover will really understand this,” Streisand added.
“I had to continue her DNA. There were no more curly-haired Cotons like Samantha — she was very rare. In order to get another I had to clone her.”
Streisand ensured DNA samples were taken from Samantha’s mouth and stomach before her death.
These were then used to clone two genetic replica dogs, whom she named Violet and Scarlett
But in an interview with Variety last year, Streisand revealed that her new animals have “different personalities” to Samantha, despite being clones.
“I’m waiting for them to get older so I can see if they have her [Samantha’s] brown eyes and seriousness,” she added.
They stepped up for a photo shoot.
A post shared by Barbra Streisand (@barbrastreisand) on Feb 18, 2019 at 9:39am PST
Streisand has a third dog, Miss Fanny, who was named after her character Fanny Brice in Funny Girl.
The renowned singer is not the only person to have cloned their pets.
In 2016, fashion designer Diane Von Furstenberg reportedly paid $100,000 (£75,700) to have her Jack Russell terrier Shannon cloned.
Simon Cowell is also said to have looked into cloning his Yorkshire Terriers in 2015.
That year, Laura Jacques and Richard Remde became the first people in Britain to clone their dog after their boxer Dylan died of a heart attack.
They sought out the help of a South Korean biotech firm called Sooam that cloned deceased dogs for £67,000.
“It was a scientific breakthrough,” Jacques told Buzzfeed at the time, “it had never been done before, and we just thought it was meant to be. We went to South Korea for the birth and it was just surreal.”
