The unlucky-in-love former politician has settled down on the NSW north coast with a popular local man.
She’s been burnt by love more times than she might care to recall, so maybe that’s why former One Nation leader and The Celebrity Apprentice contestant Pauline Hanson is coy when it comes to matters of the heart. Many would believe that the woman Australia loves to love – and hate –has no romance in her life. “I am single,” Pauline, 57, publicly declared on radio as recently as last week.
This, despite the fact that she shares a home, cars and shopping duties with a former real-estate agent, and that the closeness of the couple’s friendship in the coastal hamlet of Nelson Bay, NSW, is widely known and acknowledged. In fact, neighbours and residents are only too happy to point out where the couple live, shop and eat, and say they are pleased for Pauline and the widely liked Tony Nyquist. “They live together down by the real estate place,” says a Nelson Bay resident. “They go out together. I’ve seen them in the Salamander Bay Shopping Centre together… seen them in Kmart. [Locals] accept her, they are happy to have her here. She’s very welcome.”
It’s understood the ex-politician formed a close bond with Tony about 12 months ago. Not long afterwards, one of her sons told Woman’s Day the family “loved Tony” and hoped he’d finally bring their mother the happiness that has eluded her in the past. “We would love Mum to settle down with Tony,” he said at the time. Pauline has been spectacularly unlucky in love. Who could forget the man, claiming to be an ex-boyfriend, who peddled sexy photographs – purported to be of a young Pauline but later found to be fake. Pauline has been married twice. She met her first husband, Walter Zagorski, at 15 and married him a year later when she was pregnant with their son, Tony.
“He was my first boyfriend and I lost my virginity to him at 16. I was too frightened to tell my parents because I knew it would devastate them,” Pauline reflected. The marriage lasted four years and produced a second son, Steven, before they split in 1975 when Pauline claims she found out Walter had had an affair. They reconciled briefly in 1977, but it was not to last. A year later, she met her second husband, Mark Hanson, whose name she still carries. They tied the knot in 1980 when Pauline discovered she was pregnant with her third son, Adam.
See more pictures of Pauline’s new man plus read more about their relationship in this week’s Woman’s Day on sale November 21, 2011.
