“Shocking Discovery: The Tragic Reason Doris Day Had No Funeral or Grave Marker Finally Revealed!”

“Doris Day had problems accepting death,” her manager tells PEOPLE.

Doris Day’s funeral will not take place after she died at the age of 97.

The renowned Hollywood actor, who died on Monday morning, left a will that clearly stated her wishes, according to her manager and close friend Bob Bashara. “No funeral, memorial, or [grave] marker,” Bashara says.

In addition to stating that Day did not “like to talk about” a potential funeral or memorial, Bashara adds, “She didn’t enjoy death, and she couldn’t be with her animals if they had to be put down.” “She had problems accepting death.”

“I’d tell her we needed to provide for her dogs [when 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 recounts. “She had several when her will was drafted, and she wanted to ensure that they were taken care of. She did not want to talk about the pets dying.

Day, an enthusiastic animal lover and animal welfare advocate, grew up Catholic and later became a practicing Christian Scientist after marrying producer Martin Melcher.

According to Bashara, Day “drifted away” from formal religion when Melcher died in 1968, but he remained “a spiritual guy.”

“She believed in God and thought her voice was God-given,” he explains. “She would say, ‘God gave me a voice, and I simply used it.'”

Bashara says he’s not sure why Day was hesitant to have a funeral, but he believes it was because she was bashful.

“She never let her popularity change who she was, and she was always the young girl from Cincinnati who was tremendously gifted and went out into the world and did what she liked to do despite herself,” he recalls. “She was guileless, and when I asked her why she was so popular, she said, ‘I don’t understand it.'”

“She knew her fans loved her from all the letters, which meant a lot to her,” he says.

Bashara stated that Day’s estate will be donated to charity in accordance with her will.

“The ultimate goal is to keep the organization going,” he adds of the Doris Day Animal organization, which she founded in 1978.