GWYNETH PALTROW FINDS OUT SHE SAVED A LIFE ON 9/11

Gwyneth Paltrow didn't mean to be a hero on September 11, 2001 -- but, thanks to post-yoga class encounter with a jaywalking pedestrian named Lara Lundstrom Clarke in downtown Manhattan, she became one.

Last month, Clarke recounted her "Sliding Doors moment," in which she had an awkward stand-off with Paltrow (in her Mercedes SUV) on Seventh Avenue -- thereby making her miss her train to work at the World Trade Center. (By the time Clarke arrived, the first tower was already falling.)

Promoting her flick Contagion at the Venice Film Festival, Paltrow, 37, acknowledged receiving a letter from Clarke and recounted her own version of that day.

"Basically, what happened was I had gone to a yoga class very early," Paltrow explained.