Martin Sheen is set to destroy his good-guy image in a shocking new book, which will expose his past booze-fueled rages and alcohol problems.

The former TV president has teamed up with writer Christopher Kennedy Lawford to reveal all about his darkest days in Moments of Clarity. In the book Sheen says, "When I drank, it gave me permission to do things that I normally would not do."

And he tells Lawford that he regrets being so violent towards his children when they were young. In a book extract, obtained by America's the Globe, the former West Wing star recalls one morning when his actor son Charlie - then 16 - became the victim of his father's bad temper.

Sheen explains Charlie had come into his sleeping parents' bedroom to look for lunch money and when he found his mom's purse was empty, he swore and woke his father, who punched him to the ground.

Sheen remembers, "He looked up at me and for the first time in my life I saw myself. I saw what I looked like in his eyes. I was a monster. I was this raging lunatic who would physically assault his son."

The veteran actor changed his ways at that point, but still fears Charlie's infamous problems with drugs and alcohol were a result of his own bad parenting.

He adds, "I taught him everything he knew. I never got into drugs that way, but I used to drink with the lads on a few occasions."

(This news article provided by World Entertainment News Network)