Doris Day won't be having a funeral: Here's why

There won't be a funeral for Doris Day -- and that's exactly how she would've wanted it.

The legendary Hollywood actress, who passed away at the age of 97 on Monday, "had difficulty accepting death" and, thus, there will be "no funeral, no memorial and no [grave] marker" for her, longtime manager Bob Bashara told People.

"She didn't like death, and she couldn't be with her animals if they had to be put down," Bashara explained, adding that she didn't "like to talk about" any plans that were to be made following her passing.

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"I think it was because she was a very shy person," Bashara said when asked why she didn't want a funeral. "She never let her celebrity affect her and who she was, and she was always the little girl from Cincinnati who was extraordinarily talented and went out in the world and did what she loved to do despite herself."

"She was guileless, and I had discussions with her about how popular she was, and she would say, ‘I don’t understand it’ about why she was so loved," he went on. "She knew her fans loved her from all the letters, and that meant a lot to her."

Another sign pointing to Day's difficulty wrapping her mind around death tied to her beloved dogs: Her manager said that the longtime animal lover was preoccupied not with her own funeral or burial, but with how her dogs would be taken care of once she had passed.

SEE ALSO: 5 things you didn't know about Doris Day

"I’d say we need to provide for her dogs [after she died], and she’d say, 'I don’t want to think about it' and she said, 'Well, you just take care of them,'" Bashara expained. "She had several when her will was written, and she wanted to be sure they were taken care of. She didn’t like to talk about the dogs dying."

Day founded the Doris Day Animal Foundation in 1978, and her manager said "the ultimate thing for it is to keep the foundation going," which is where her estate will be donated, per her will.