Singer Barbra Streisand recently published a memoir titled, “My Name is Barbra.” In it, the Grammy-winning artist shared the surprising details of her 2015 visit to the White House with her dog Samantha, a Coton de Tulear. What’s more, the ordeal nearly resulted in Streisand landing herself in some trouble with the Secret Service, according to The Hill.
Along with other notable artists, Streisand was visiting the nation’s capital to be honored by then-President Barack Obama with a Presidential Medal of Freedom. In her book, she admitted she did not know she was ”breaking the rules” until after the ceremony concluded.
President allows Streisand to bring dog into Oval Office
Streisand detailed how her pet would frequently travel with her, no matter the destination. Perhaps that’s why the artist was blissfully unaware that dogs were not allowed in the White House. Writing, ”Sammie goes everywhere with me…even to the ballet or the theater, because she’s such a good little girl.” Streisand even shared that Samantha “never barks. She’s just happy to be with us.”
Accordingly, the singer carried Sammie in her bag to the White House. Of course, this prompted a Secret Service agent to speak to the president and seek advice on the situation.
Streisand added that “[Publicist] Ken Sunshine, who was also there for the ceremony,” later shared with her “that a Secret Service agent had come to the Oval Office and informed the president that Barbra Streisand was bringing a dog into the White House.” After that point, the agent awaited guidance on how to respond.
The pop icon said that the president ”remained cool in the crisis,” allowing her to keep the dog by her side. And, according to Sunshine, President Obama “looked the Secret Service agent in the eye and made his decision: ‘Whatever Barbra wants, Barbra gets.'”
Barbra Streisand cloned her late dog twice
In a 2018 interview with Variety, Streisand revealed how she collected cells from Samantha’s mouth and stomach before the dog died in 2017. The artist did so in the hopes of cloning her beloved canine companion of 14 years. As a result, two of her dogs — Miss Violet and Miss Scarlett — are Samantha’s clones.
”They have different personalities,” the singer said. ”I’m waiting for them to get older so I can see if they have her brown eyes and her seriousness.”
Streisand’s decision to clone her late dog triggered a massive controversy. In a statement to Page Six, PETA President Ingrid Newkirk said, ”We all want our beloved dogs to live forever, but while it may sound like a good idea, cloning doesn’t achieve that.”
”Instead, it creates a new and different dog who has only the physical characteristics of the original,” Newkirk continued.
The statement further mentioned that considering ”millions of wonderful adoptable dogs are languishing in animal shelters every year or dying in terrifying ways when abandoned, you realize that cloning adds to the homeless-animal population crisis.”
Newkirk also stated that since ”cloning has a high failure rate, many dogs are caged and tormented for every birth that actually occurs.” As such, ”that’s not fair to them, despite the best intentions.”
”We feel Barbra’s grief at losing her beloved dog but would also love to have talked her out of cloning,” Newkirk added.
Miss Violet and Miss Scarlett turned six in September of this year. Apart from them, Streisand also has a third dog named Miss Fanny, who’s a distant cousin of Sammie’s.
