Gwyneth Paltrow's road rage saved woman's life on 9/11

It's as nutty as it sounds.

Lara Lundstrom Clarke, account manager at Baseline Financial Services, was late for work at the World Trade Center on 9/11 after she was almost struck by a reckless SUV driver. That bad driver, it turns out, was Hollywood actress Gwyneth Paltrow and Clarke's life was spared when chaos erupted in lower Manhattan that fateful morning.

Now, Clarke is thanking Paltrow for saving her life by almost killing her and making her miss her train:

“It was one of those mornings that felt good, you had a little skip in your step. What the heck - I always cut across 7th Avenue. Then all of the sudden a silver Mercedes SUV came barreling down towards me.  I stopped and they screeched to a halt. Then it developed in to one of those classic who-goes-first situations. It got ridiculous. Then I made eye contact with the Mercedes driver. OMG it was Gwyneth Paltrow.  I knew she lived down the street, so it made sense. She waved me across, I crossed and she continued on her way. At least if I was late for work I had a story to tell.”

She raced to the subway, hurtled down the stairs to the platform only to watch the doors of the 1/9 slam shut. ...

At 8:47am, the moment she headed up from the subway to the concourse in the Twin Towers the first plane hit.

According to Gawker, a "deeply moved" Paltrow is oh-so-humbly accepting responsibility for saving Clarke's life:

...[L]et this be a lesson: Next time you're annoyed with Gwyneth Paltrow, imagine how Paltrow-related irritations may actually be saving your life, in the manner of an irritating granule of sand turning into a pearl in the mouth of an oyster.