Eminem ashamed of his 'angry young man' image

Washington, Oct 20 : Rapper Eminem says he regrets his former image as an 'angry young man'.

The star feels that the image must have made his fans believe that he's on drugs.

Now 35, the 'Stan' hitmaker has taken a look back at his career for a new autobiography, 'The Way I Am', and he can't believe how mad he was, reports Contactmusic.

In an extract from the new memoir, printed in America's Entertainment Weekly magazine, Eminem writes, "When I look back at myself during those years when everything was blowing up, I think maybe at first I was a little... too aggressive and loud. It was like I had this voice and I had to be heard."

"People must have been wondering, 'Why is this dude so angry? Is he on crack? Is he on crystal meth?' I go back and see old interviews and even now I wonder, 'Why was I so hyper?'"

And he still regrets stupid things he used to do to let off steam: "I went through a phase back then when I was shooting pistols in the air behind the studio, and, you know, pulling guns out, pointing a pistol in somebody's face, not even realising that I could've gone to jail for that s**t."

Eminem said that he once pointed an unloaded pistol at a fan's face - because he was tired of being hounded every time he left his home.

He said: "The doorbell kept ringing. I was starting to lose it... I was losing my mind. I got up in one kid's face with a pistol. Unloaded, but still.

"My temper was out of control. Thank God I was in enough control not to do something tragic."

ANI