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Thierry Henry is a straight-shooter, unafraid to confront his friends, foes or fans. Perhaps that’s why the Red Bulls star loves New York so much, and why the world’s brashest city is growing to embrace one of the planet’s biggest soccer stars.

“I’m a pain in the neck. I know that,” Henry told The Post. “But that’s the way I am on the field. Take me out of the pitch, I love to joke, dance, enjoy, whatever. But out there, I’m a pain in the neck.”

After arriving last summer as Major League Soccer’s highest-profile addition since the L.A. Galaxy signed David Beckham — and arguably the best player stateside since Pele and Franz Beckenbauer — Henry is finally living up to that standard. The 33-year-old forward has a league-high eight goals and four assists, and has quadrupled the Red Bulls’ sponsorship since joining the team.

But despite leading France to a World Cup and Barcelona to a Champions League title, trading in his childhood projects for a $15 million SoHo penthouse, Henry is surprisingly hungry and brutally honest.

“He’s a great guy, down to earth, simple,” said Suns point guard Steve Nash, who also lives in SoHo and has been friends with Henry for seven years.

Henry is a joker in the locker room, competitive in practice and ferocious in games — to which he frequently arrives not in his gleaming Mercedes-Benz, but via the PATH like any straphanger. After seeing ex-wife Nicole Merry and daughter Téa receive death threats following his controversial handball in France’s World Cup qualifier against Ireland, he’s enjoying his newfound anonymity like a warm blanket.

“That’s the part I enjoy the most, that I used to hate the most back in Europe. I’m happy to be here and I don’t want to go back,” said Henry, who sits courtside at the Garden and dines out with girlfriend Andrea Rajacic, just another star hiding in a city full of them.

“Even when he was playing in Europe, he always said, ‘I want to come play in New York, I love that city, I want to live here,’ ” said friend and Spurs star Tony Parker. “I’m just happy for him. Hopefully they can win a championship.”

Even after sitting at home last month watching Barcelona win the Champions League title, Henry says he’s concentrating on captaining his new team to a title of its own.

“At Arsenal, I always said I’ll end up playing for a team in New York,” said Henry, who helped set up Joel Lindpere’s goal in Sunday’s 1-1 tie at Chicago. “I always wanted to come here and fight for this team. I’m so happy, finally, I can be fit.”

While his play was expected, his passion wasn’t. Ex-FIFA World Player of the Year Lothar Matthaus was old and indifferent when he joined the MetroStars in 2000; and while Beckham arrived fixated on the red carpet, Henry is focused on his Red Bulls, evidenced on May 7 by his rough tackle from behind on MLS’ other superstar.

“I’m impressed that a guy with that background, that history of winning everything, is still all that hungry just to [practice], getting [peeved] losing a four-v-four,” said Red Bulls coach Hans Backe. “He’s so competitive.”

That competitiveness boiled over April 16. He had been taunted by the home supporters after suffering an Achilles injury and scored in a rout of San Jose, running over to curse out the fans who had mocked him. He has had all his goals and assists since that catharsis, and the fans embraced him for his New York moment.

“He always tries to push himself to please the fan,” said Rafa Marquez, who played with Henry in Barcelona and joined the Red Bulls at the same time. “He’s a different player. He always has the focus of the eye of the fans. He’s always at the center.”

“I’m all about heart,” Henry said. “I was [upset] with myself, because I wasn’t performing, because I couldn’t play hard. The fans can get over someone not having a good game, but what they want to see is someone playing hard. That’s why I was [upset],” said Henry. “The thing I did with the fans, I don’t act. I don’t know how.

“I get into the face of people for no reason, but that’s my game. I grew up in the street. It’s tough. You have to have that face like, ‘I mean business.’ I’ll never change what brought me to this point, that passion, that desire, that anger that I have sometimes in me. That’s what made me arrive.”

And where does that edge come from? Henry grew up south of Paris in Les Ulis, what they’d call les quartiers difficiles, a tough neighborhood of Arabian, Portuguese, Spanish and African immigrants, projects that either broke or hardened young men.

His mother, Marylese, prodded him in school, but his father, Antoine, pushed him on the field. His parents separated when he was 7, Antoine eventually moving back to his native Guadeloupe. But Henry visits on vacation, and his pickup games on the beach against his brother and Antoine, 58, show where his ferocity comes from.

“My girlfriend nearly came on the field to tell us to stop,” said Henry. “I try to dribble past him, elbows in the face. He goes to score, I tackle him from the back, body-slam him in the sand. That’s how we play. That’s my dad; then you understand where it comes from.”

That win-at-all-cost hunger never left him. And channeling his inner Lombardi, he says he wants to be remembered for bringing this team its first title.

“That’s the only thing,” said Henry. “You have to leave something. Is it going to happen? Who knows? But that’s what you want to do, you’ve got to do.”