Gwen Stefani almost stopped Brangelina from happening. Kind of.

Oh what a tangled, tangled web

Oh what a tangled, tangled web

You know in films when someone goes back in time and changes one small thing and it ends up altering the entire course of history? Well fasten your seatbelts, because what we're about to tell you is like that. The whole of Hollywood could have been unrecognisable from how it is today.

Gwen Stefani appeared on the Howard Stern radio show on Wednesday, and told the presenter that she was super close to being cast in a movie. But not just any movie. Mr and Mrs Smith. In case you've forgotten that's the 2005 spy classic. Arguably, it's not the most amazing film ever made, but it does happen to be the film where Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who now share six children, fell in love.

Stefani told Stern: 'I feel like I almost got it. I went to a bunch of auditions.' She went on to explain that she was interested in experimenting with acting, saying: '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,' she explained.

Now there's nothing we love more than knowing who might have taken someone else's movie role. But there's more to it that that. Take a minute to think about that. Imagine if she had. Imagine if Stefani and Pitt had been the lead roles in the film. We're sure they would have got on and everything, but there wouldn't have been that incredible, unstoppable chemistry that was so obvious between Jolie and Pitt - a force so strong that it has often been cited as one of the reasons for Pitt leaving his then-wife, Jennifer Aniston.

The whole landscape of celebrity would be completely different. Jennifer and Brad might still be married (or maybe not, we don't know for sure that Mr and Mrs Smith was responsible for the break-up).

Or, even weirder, perhaps Gwen and Brad would have got on like a house on fire and a whole different celebrity couple might have been born? Who knows. Either way, this little throw away comment from Gwen has literally blown our minds.

The leading destination for fashion, beauty, shopping and finger-on-the-pulse views on the latest issues. Marie Claire's travel content helps you delight in discovering new destinations around the globe, offering a unique – and sometimes unchartered – travel experience. From new hotel openings to the destinations tipped to take over our travel calendars, this iconic name has it covered.