Last week, Hillary Adams quietly posted a video on her YouTube channel. Shot by a hidden webcam, it depicted her father brutally spanking the then 16-year-old with a leather belt.

The corporal punishment was for using the Internet (something that her father feared) to illegally download games and music. The father was Aransas County Court-at-Large Judge William Adams.

Hillary Adams, now 23, initially maintained a relatively low profile after publishing the video. She had the time to go to a Typing of the Dead tournament, play some other games, interview for a job.

Then, suddenly, the video took off. It has accrued more than 2.2 million views and 66,000 comments, with much of that coming in the last few days. Groups were created on Facebook aimed at preventing Judge Adams' re-election, a fake (and un-amusing) Twitter account cropped up. Hillary Adams was bombarded by national media outlets for interviews.

Hillary Adams — who has ataxic cerebral palsy — and her mother, Hallie Adams, appeared on the Today Show on Thursday morning. Hallie Adams, who is also culpable in the incriminating video, places all of the blame on her now ex-husband and makes reference to some mysterious "addiction."

"I lived in an environment of dysfunction, and it steadily got worse. I was completely brainwashed and controlled," Hallie Adams said. "I did every single thing that he did. When I leave the room, he’s telling me what to say, what to do."

As Today Show host Matt Lauer attempted to understand why Hillary Adams decided to release the video so many years later, she had unclear answers.

"Waiting until today, seven years later, was about me being able to pull away and distance myself from the consequences," Hillary Adams said. "It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. It wasn’t any huge happening. I told him I had the video, and he didn’t seem to think anything of it and basically dared me to post it."

So she published it (on the Internet, ironically) for the world to see.

"In my mind, I haven’t done anything wrong other than discipline my child after she was caught stealing," her father told a Corpus Christi TV station. "I did lose my temper, but I have since apologized. It looks worse than it is. There is a story. It will come out in due time."

In the meantime, the beating judge has left Rockport and has cut off his daughter's phone service. His job is under scrutiny, with Aransas County officials saying that the county "is aware of the video posted on YouTube regarding Count Court-at-Law Judge William Adams, and the matter is now under review by the Police Department."

But apparently all Hillary Adams wanted was for her father to get help.