In 1980, Hanson (then Pauline Zagorski) married Mark Hanson, a divorced tradesman working on the Gold Coast in Queensland. They honeymooned in South-East Asia. Mark Hanson had a daughter, Amanda (born 1977), from his previous marriage, and he later had two children with Hanson: Adam (born 1981) and Lee (born 1984). Together they established a trades and construction business, in which Hanson was in charge of the administrative and bookkeeping work, and would on occasions assist her husband on more practical work. Hanson has written about her difficult marriage, where alcohol and domestic violence impacted her family. They divorced in 1987.