He steered Seagram's Co. Ltd. to great success and brought the Montreal Expos to Canada, but Canadian billionaire Charles Bronfman insists he was a "late bloomer," after years of struggling with low self-esteem in his early life.

"I was sort of a sickly dummy in my own mind," he told CTV News Channel, in an interview to promote his new autobiography, "Distilled."

Bronfman, 85, says he wrote the book so he could share his life's story with his grandchildren.

"Grandchildren think of you as an icon. I wanted them to know I was a human."

Bronfman delved into his family history, his business ventures and the early days of Major League Baseball in Canada, in a wide-ranging interview with CTV News Channel on Tuesday.

On his childhood

Born into an already wealthy family, Bronfman says he felt "unworthy" of his privileged life, and lacked self-confidence in his youth. "The siblings all seemed much too big and good and smart," he admitted. "It never entered my mind that I had a lot of merit, even when I was running Seagram's Canada."

Success and the Montreal Expos

Bronfman eventually went into the family business running Seagram's with his brother, but it wasn't until 1968, when he struck out on his own to secure an MLB franchise for Montreal, that he really developed confidence in his own abilities. He says he had always relied on his family and its wealth at Seagram's, but with the Expos, he felt the pressure of being on his own. "I had to prove myself and I did, so that's when things changed around."

On his relationship with his older brother

Bronfman was keenly aware of his brother Edgar Sr.'s status as the elder sibling, even when the two were working in business together. He said one of his biggest regrets in business was when the family sold its $12-billion stake in DuPont. "I did fight but I was, shall we say, outvoted by two-to-one, my brother and my nephew," he said.

"I would always be the younger brother," he said. "I was the hesitant one."

He also labelled his brother Edgar's venture into Hollywood a "disaster." Edgar Sr. was the long-time head of the studio MGM.