There are many Sliding Doors moments in life: when we almost catch that train and wonder what could have been, when we say yes to a party and meet someone that we so almost didn’t meet.

But this one really pips all others to the post.

Because it turns out someone else might have taken Angelina Jolie’s role in 2005 film Mr & Mrs Smith – the film that brought her and husband, Brad Pitt, together.

Speaking in an interview on The Howard Stern Show, Gwen Stefani revealed how she went to several auditions for the role of assassin, Jane Smith.

“I feel like I almost got it,” said the singer. "I went to a bunch [of auditions].”

Jolie and Pitt famously got together while filming Mr & Mrs Smith. At the time, Pitt was married to Jennifer Aniston. Six months after the film's release, Pitt and Aniston filed for divorce. 

Jolie later said of the film: "not a lot of people get to see a movie where their parents fell in love", which Aniston described in a 2008 Vogue interview as "a little inappropriate to discuss," saying: "that stuff about how she couldn't wait to get to work every day? That was really uncool."

Pitt and Jolie married in 2014 and now have six children together, while Aniston married actor, Justin Theroux in 2015. 

No Doubt front-woman Stefani said that she really wanted the role, but that she decided instead to focus on her music, saying:

“It was very competitive and I wanted to do it, but I wanted to do music more.”

The 46-year-old previously discussed the audition in a 2008 interview in Vogue, revealing that it came down to her and Jolie:

“It was between me and Angelina Jolie, and I’m like, ‘Oh, great. I got a shot here.”

Although Stefani has appeared in Gossip Girl and Zoolander, the singer has never fully pursued a career in acting, but told the magazine that:

“The whole acting thing really feels like something I could do. Whenever I’ve done it, whenever I had moments where it works, it’s just like performing. You hit a moment. And that’s what movies are: a series of moments.”

Well, how different the celebrity landscape could have looked had Jolie not taken that role…