A US man is suing his own parents after they destroyed his extensive pornography collection.

The 40-year-old man failed to convince local police to press charges, so he has now decided to sue his parents for damages of roughly $NZ129,000.

The man told the Michigan court that he moved into the family home after a divorce in 2016. After finding a new place to live in the neighbouring state of Indiana, he asked his parents to deliver his belongings.

However, the delivery excluded 12 boxes of pornographic films and magazines - including titles such as Frisky Business and Big Bad Grannys - which his parents admitted they destroyed.

Email excerpts submitted to the court, and obtained by news channel WXMI, as part of the lawsuit tell a tale of tough love.

"If you had a problem with my belongings, you should have stated that at the time and I would have gone elsewhere," the email read. "Instead, you choose to keep quiet and behave vindictively."

His father apparently responded, "Believe it or not, one reason for why I destroyed your porn was for your own mental and emotional health.

"I would have done the same if I had found a kilo of crack cocaine," his father wrote. "Someday, I hope you will understand."

Newshub.