When Martin Sheen felt 'powerless'

Actor Martin Sheen says he felt "powerless" when his son Charlie Sheen had a public meltdown in 2011, resulting in the latter being sacked from the hit series "Two and a Half Men".

The 74-year-old has confessed it was "painful" to see Charlie go through such hard times in the public eye, but insists there was nothing more he could have done for his son, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

"What he was going through at that time, we were powerless to do much. Except to pray for him and lift him up. You try to be as present as possible. But you have to be aware of the circumstances," he said of the time when Charlie was sacked from the TV show.

"You have to be aware of many things that the public is not aware of. Only those of us that knew him understood what was going on. I'm talking about steroids, at that time. He was in a very desperate situation. And he was doing what he felt would get him out of it - going public. And it was very painful. No less painful for him," added the father of the 49-year-old.