Alanis Morissette was held up at gunpoint while working on 'Jagged Little Pill'.

The 46-year-old singer/songwriter revealed the terrifying incident occurred when she was writing the 1995 album and she almost lost all of the work she had done for the record.

Speaking to Alex Jones and Gethin Jones on 'The One Show', she said: ''I was writing for the record and I had my backpack full of my lyrics and music and some cassette tapes.

''All of a sudden I was going to get running shoes, I drove home to turn around and I was being held up at gunpoint and they wanted all my things.

''I knew I was going to give them anything first of all. Second of all, I had my backpack with the whole of my Jagged Little Pill contents in it.

''I gave them my wallet and my purse and they said go lie down. So I lay down with my backpack and thought they'll take that on the way out but they didn't. It was so fortuitous and I'm happy to still be here.''

And she also revealed that her classic hit 'Ironic' was almost never released.

Alanis - whose latest album 'Such Pretty Forks in the Road' was released last week - explained: ''I wrote 'Ironic' with Glen Ballard very early in the writing of the record and it was not autobiographical, it was just us trying to be entertain each other and we were being really loose and quick with everything.

''When it came to decide on what was on the record, I didn't want 'Ironic' on the record but those around me whom I trusted really loved the song so it wound up being on the record but it was a close call.''