Tom Brady is now part of a very exclusive club: celebrities who have cloned their pets.
The former NFL star and current Fox Sports broadcaster recently revealed that his new dog, Junie, is actually a clone of his previous dog, Lua, who died in December 2023.
“A Second Chance” for Lua
“I love my animals. They mean the world to me and my family,” Brady reportedly told media outlets. He explained that Colossal Biosciences used a blood sample from Lua, taken before her death, to clone her. “Colossal gave my family a second chance with a clone of our beloved dog.”
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Colossal, known for its efforts to bring back extinct animals like the woolly mammoth and dire wolf, announced on Nov. 4 that it acquired ViaGen Pets & Equine, the company that handled the cloning. ViaGen is a major player in the pet cloning industry and claims to have cloned hundreds of animals.
Brady, who is an investor in Colossal, said that he's “excited how Colossal and Viagen's tech together can help both families losing their beloved pets while helping to save endangered species.”
The process used to clone Lua is called somatic cell nuclear transfer. In short, scientists take the nucleus from one of the animal’s cells and insert it into an egg cell. That egg is then implanted into a surrogate, resulting in a genetic copy.
Colossal CEO Ben Lamm told NBC’s Today that the result is “an identical genetic copy.” That means the animal shares the same physical features and often many of the same behaviors, too.
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Junie isn't the first cloned celebrity pet. Paris Hilton had her dog cloned in 2023, and Barbra Streisand famously cloned her Coton de Tuléar multiple times. ViaGen said one customer even cloned the same horse 50 times.
Still, cloning pets isn't cheap. ViaGen charges around $50,000 to clone a dog and $85,000 for a horse. That price tag has kept the practice mostly limited to the ultra-wealthy. A recent Gallup poll found that only 34% of Americans think cloning animals is “morally acceptable.”
Brady's Venture That Involves Robots
Beyond cloning, Brady is stepping into the tech world in other ways. He recently became chief innovation officer at Aescape, a company developing AI-powered robotic massage systems. His business partner, Alex Spiro, joined as a strategic advisor.
The robotic massage units are already used in luxury hotels like the Four Seasons and fitness chains such as Equinox. Aescape now aims to bring its technology into pro sports facilities and even the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
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“Since early in my career, I’ve been fortunate to work with Alex Guerrero, the best body coach in the world,” Brady told The New York Post. “What we’ve built together helped me play 23 seasons in the NFL. Now, together with Aescape, we’re making that same elite level of treatment accessible to everyone.”
According to the company's website, each massage session uses robotic arms and body-mapping sensors to deliver consistent pressure and customization without human involvement. Prices typically start at $60 for 30 minutes, but some locations offer sessions for as low as $39.
Spiro called the company “the greatest democratization of massage,” adding, “there is no competitor in the space.”
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