Mormon Madoff's Wife Went from Riches to Rags After He Confessed to Running $20M Ponzi Scheme (Exclusive)

Andrea Merriman’s world came to a stop in 2009. 

Her ex-husband, Shawn Merriman, told her that he was living a double life, admitting he had been running a $20 million Ponzi scheme for over a decade.

Shawn, the head of a successful investment company and a bishop at their church, turned himself in to federal agents and was imprisoned for fraud soon after.

The government quickly seized and repossessed all of their assets, most of which were purchased with investors’ money. Shawn, dubbed the “Mormon Madoff,” was sentenced to 12 years behind bars.

Meanwhile, Andrea was left nearly penniless to care for their four children, the youngest of whom was 3 at the time, and had to quickly figure out how the rest of her life would go.

Andrea, 58, talks to PEOPLE exclusively about why she’s sharing her story now and how she’s healed over the past 16 years.

“I remember thinking that, at the time, ‘I’m humiliated to be married to a criminal. I’m humiliated getting divorced,'” she shares. “I’m humiliated to go from riches to rags, I’m humiliated, but to do it in the public eye compounded it and multiplied.” 

Along with the humiliation, Andrea was also dealing with a “degree of guilt” knowing the man she loved had scammed people out of millions.

“There was a lot of guilt around what if I hadn’t been such a peacemaker, what if I hadn’t been such a kind and supportive wife, what if I hadn’t been so trusting,” she says.

“Would it have been possible for him to do it so long and then guilt all the people who probably trusted him because of the kind of life I lived and the kind of person I was? Yeah, but some of it has been because he was a criminal and I didn’t know it.”

After her husband’s conviction stripped them of everything, Andrea moved to Utah with her four children for a fresh start.

Now, she’s turning to TikTok to share her story of rebirth. Her first video, detailing the first 24 hours after her life was turned upside down, went viral, amassing over 10 million views.

She’s gained over 70,000 followers, with users eager to learn how she rebuilt her life. 

Andrea says she always knew she wanted to do something with her story. She was talking to a group of 20-somethings when one of them suggested she start a TikTok account.

“When it happened to me, I felt like I was alone in the world, and there was no one who lived my experience,” she explains. “I started my blog in 2010 to help at least one person by sharing my story and getting my name out there so they knew who to call or email if they needed advice.”

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“That was why I went to TikTok,” she continues. “There’s a whole new audience, a new generation. We need messages of hope and encouragement, and we need people to model how to survive and conquer adversity.”

She shares that her kids were a primary driving force in her recovery and journey, motivating her to forgive and build trust again. 

“Forgiveness has come with therapy. Faith and religion have helped me,” she says. “Being a parent as well, because, as a parent, you cannot require from your kids what you’re not willing to do yourself.”

“When we discovered what happened, my kids looked at me with tears and said, ‘What has happened?'” she recalls. “I said, ‘I don’t know what we’re going to do, but the one thing I know we’re going to do is we’re going to forgive, not for him, but for us.’ ”

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Despite everything she’s been through, Andrea still “believes in trust” and that “people are good and kind.”

“Trust is a choice,” she says. “Moving forward is a choice. Resilience… it’s a skill, but it’s a choice. We have more choices than we realize, but when we acknowledge that, we take control of our agency and choose to act rather than be acted upon.”

Years after the initial shock and heartbreak, Andrea remarried, and her family is doing well. Her youngest recently graduated from high school, and her three oldest kids all graduated from college and “are building careers.”

“They’ve grown up and become adults. They’re good, kind, hard-working, and have empathy,” she tells PEOPLE.

“The 16 years of our recovery have been a lesson, a demonstration in resilience and trying new things,” she adds.

Andrea believes “we each have a life here” and “a mission to fulfill.”

“Every one of us has the gifts we need to succeed. We must find them and our hard times help us find them,” she shares.

“I dug deep and found them,” she adds. “I got a lot of help along the way from kind people, and now I’m at the point where I can pay it back and share what I’ve learned and help others, which is a great place to be in.”

For those who find themselves in a similar situation, Andrea advises them to “focus on something other than your misery in the middle of your horror.” 

“I didn’t spend a day in bed. I don’t know how, but I was afraid that if I did, I might never get out of bed again,” she says. “I didn’t let myself indulge in hatred of my ex-husband because I was afraid I would never be able to pull myself out if I did.” 

She continues, telling those who need it to “focus on something other than your misery, have gratitude, [and try] to accomplish something every day.”

“Being a parent, focusing on my kids helped me,” she says. “My worst nightmare in life was to be financially responsible for someone other than myself, and in the end, that’s what I got, and I learned I could do it.”

“I survived, which is a huge thing I learned about myself because I didn’t even realize I would be capable of that. We were poor, but we survived.”