Tom Brady has revealed that his young pit bull mix Junie is actually a clone of his beloved late dog Lua, RadarOnline.com can report.
The former Super Bowl winning quarterback said he worked with Colossal Biosciences, a biotech company he is an investor in, to get a second chance with his prized pooch.
Lua, seen here, now lives on as Junie.
Brady, who shared Lua with ex-wife Gisele Bundchen, lost the elderly dog two years ago. Shortly after Lua’s death, Brady and his family welcomed Junie to their mix.
On Tuesday, Nov. 4, the former Tampa Bay Buccaneeers quarterback revealed the two dogs have a lot in common – namely, their DNA.
“I love my animals. They mean the world to me and my family,” Brady said in a statement. “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.”
He added the company “gave my family a second chance with a clone of our beloved dog.”
Brady shared Lua with ex-wife Gisele Bundchen
Colossal is perhaps best known for successfully cloning three previously extinct dire wolf puppies. The company also has plans to reintroduce other extinct species, like the wooly mammoth and the dodo bird.
The major biotech group recently announced its acquisition of rival Viagen Pets and Equine, which cloned Barbra Streisand’s dog Samantha, who died in 2017, and Paris Hilton’s dog Diamond Baby into two puppies after the pet went missing in 2022.
Brady extended his excitement to the new mega group, sharing his excitement for how “Colossal and Viagen’s tech together can help both families losing their beloved pets while helping to save endangered species.”
The quarterback and his model wife adopted Lua during their marriage, which they ended in 2022. But even though no longer together, Brady and Bündchen continued to co-parent the pit bull mix.
Colossal Biosciences found great success in cloning the extinct dire wolf, made famous on ‘Game of Thrones’
Bündchen announced Lua’s death in an Instagram post on Dec. 23, 2023. The 45-year-old also shared several sweet snaps of the pooch with their kids, Benjamin Rein, 15, and Vivian Lake, 12.
She captioned the heartbreaking post: “Our little Lulu, our guardian angel is gone to heaven. She will forever live in our hearts. We already miss her sooooo much! #unconditionallove RIP Lua.”
View this post on Instagram
Brady also paid tribute to the dog on Instagram, sharing a photo of Lua with the kids while reflecting: “We love you Lua, RIP.”
In another tribute, he said the furry family member is “forever in our hearts.”
Brady is an investor in the company.
Meanwhile, Colossal continues to work on new advancements in cloning. The celebrity-backed company, which is backed by A-listers like Brady, Hilton, Peter Jackson, Tiger Woods, Seth Green, and Game of Thrones stars Sophie Turner and Kit Harrington, celebrated what they have called the world’s first successful de-extinction of an animal when they brought back the dire wolves.
The hope now is that that paves the way for the revival of countless other lost species.
“I could not be more proud of the team. This massive milestone is the first of many coming examples demonstrating that our end-to-end de-extinction technology stack works,” said the CEO of Colossal Ben Lamm.
“Our team took DNA from a 13,000-year-old tooth and a 72,000-year-old skull and made healthy dire wolf puppies.
“It was once said, ‘any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.’ Today, our team gets to unveil some of the magic they are working on and its broader impact on conservation.”
