Tom Brady’s dog Lua died just two days before Christmas, prompting the NFL legend to pay a heartfelt tribute to his beloved pet on Instagram.
Brady announced the news on his social media account on Saturday, sharing old photos of his children cuddling the dog.
Brady wrote, ‘We love you Lua,’ before adding a separate post. ‘Always in our hearts.’
Brady appears to be on a skiing vacation with his children, based on a subsequent Instagram story post.
Brady, 46, adopted the dog with his ex-wife, Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen.
It’s unclear whether Lua stayed with Bundchen or Brady after they split at the end of 2022.
But Bundchen posted her own tribute, with a video on her Instagram story on a post that was captioned: ‘Our little Lulu, our guardian angel is gone to heaven. She will live on in our hearts forever.
‘We already miss her so much #unconditionallove RIP Lua,’ she wrote.
Brady is a known dog lover, having previously volunteered at a dog shelter with his children.
On the day he retired this year, February 1, a worker at the Tampa shelter shared a photo of him with son Ben and daughter Vivien.
‘I guess I’ll add my Tom Brady story… but it’s not about 7 Super Bowls, being down 28-3, or his final pass as a Patriot. ‘We’ve all seen those,’ the worker wrote on Instagram.
‘It’s the one about the father who spent an entire football season volunteering at an animal shelter with his children. He bonded with his children over naming puppies and bottle feeding kittens.
‘The one where he showed up silently every other week to make a difference for his family and community.’The one where two dads just got to be dads and beam with pride every time their kids say, “Please can we just stay a little bit longer?!” The one in which two little girls formed a friendship based on their love of tiny baby kittens and contributed to making the world a better place for animals.
These were taken in August, and we didn’t take many more after that. At least not publicly. It had nothing to do with publicity, fundraising, or recognition. It was all about being human.
‘It was about Tom taking something his little girl enjoys and turning it into an opportunity for them to spend time together.’